The Howling Wind
by luckbringer
Summary: The Doctor and Rose once again end up on the wrong planet, which is just fine for our legendary duo...until they're cut off from the TARDIS. Now it's up to them to rescue a stranded ship's remaining crew members and make it off the planet with their lives! An adventure formatted to fit in with Season 2's episode line up.
1. Prologue

"The Howling Wind"

** This is meant to be another adventure for Rose and the Tenth Doctor; just add it to their line-up. I will say, however, that this takes place sometime in the middle of season 2, when their relationship is starting to blossom fully but not enough to become something tangible. **

In the distant realms of space, far away from any human radio transmitter, a tiny comet made entirely out of ice was orbiting two small, blue suns. Its surface was an icy landscape that resembled a vast desert made of snow, and was completely void of all visible life…but that wasn't entirely true. On a round patch of solid ice there was a small, metal base that had been built years before. The building was made up of three domes: a large, central dome and two smaller ones, connected to each other by steel tunnels. A single radio antenna stretched towards the sky, and wobbled with every new gust of wind. And it wobbled quite a bit, because the icy wind that swept across the landscape was a fierce gale that had no source and, therefore, no end. But despite the apparent storm, the two suns were clearly visible, tinting the sky with a navy-blue hue. One could almost say it looked peaceful.

But the inside of the base was just about to become anything but. Two crew members walked down the eastern tunnel in response to a device that had warned them that something was wrong with Generator 6. One was a man named Charlie Rookman, who walked in front of his sister, Juliana Rookman, with a stubborn air about him. He tried not to look too closely at the patches of the tunnel's walls where the insulation wasn't quite as thick as it should be. It wasn't like they had much of a choice about removing the padding, inch by inch; with such an unreliable heating system, the crew needed all the heat they could get. Even their special space suits, specially designed to handle below-freezing temperatures, didn't protect against the wind that plagued this comet.

He tried not to glance at his sister, who walked behind him. Juliana looked like him (thick black hair that curled at the ends, almond skin, shiny blue eyes), but she was certainly nothing like him in turns of her ability to worry. She bit her lip and clutched even tighter to the set of thick earmuffs in her hand, as if they were her life line. Nowadays, they practically were.

"Alright, you've accompanied me to the door. Satisfied?" Charlie said, stopping in front of a steel door that he knew led to the outside of the building. He readjusted the helmet in his arms and began punching in the command-unlock sequence.

His sister didn't answer him and instead took the moment to repeat what she had been saying to him earlier, "Don't get too panicked out there, it likes that. And don't go wandering off; you haven't got any back up. And in case of an emergency—"

"—I dial in to the radio signal, I know. Trust me for once. I'll be fine." But despite his words Charlie refused to look at her, and Juliana knew why.

"But Andrea—"

"Andrea," he said, pausing slightly in the number sequence, "was stubborn and naive." He finished punching in the last few digits and was rewarded with the door making a soft sighing sound. Only then did he finally turn to his sister and confront the expression he knew would be on her face: hard, closed, determined, yet fearful and worried at the same time. He knew that leaving Juliana on her own like this was hard enough for the both of them; the fact that one day he might not make it back from trips like these only made their partings more terrible. But right now, he didn't want to talk about Andrea, the younger recruit who had heard the rumors about how the…_thing_ out there made you hear the suffering of your closet friends and family. He didn't want to think about how she had been so desperate to hear her mother's voice again that she willingly offered herself to the demon, walking out into the snow with no earmuffs, no helmet, nothing. She hadn't even lasted a full minute. Charlie knew, because he had timed it. Juliana must have seen the thought in his eyes, so she had begun to think about Andrea, too, because she bowed her head.

He put his arms on Juliana's shoulders, gentle but firm, and said to the top of her head, "Jules. Jules, look at me." She did, but reluctantly. He continued, "You know me. Whatever's out there got Andrea because she wanted to hear it. I don't. D'ya hear me? I don't." He paused for a moment and refused to continue until she let him know, somehow, that she had heard the sincerity in his voice. Surely she could see that the last thing he wanted was to hear his mother's screams? And Juliana must have come to the same conclusion, because she finally nodded her head slowly. Charlie breathed a small sigh of relief he hadn't realized he had been holding and said, "I'll do my repair work, and then I'll come right back. No mucking about, yeah?"

Juliana chuckled despite herself and muttered, "Yeah, right." She gave her brother a final hug and stepped back, giving her brother enough room to open the solid steel door. "Good luck," Juliana said, before she fastened her industrial-strength earmuffs securely over her ears and blocked out the worlds sounds for good.

Charlie nodded stiffly, put on his thick helmet, and turned back to the door, convinced that if he looked at his sister again, for what might be the last time, he might not be able to make himself do this. But his hands fastened themselves onto the large, red wheel on the face of the door, and turned it two whole spins clockwise. Suddenly the door was wrenched open as the outside wind expressed its own form of enthusiasm at finally being able to access the inside of the base. Juliana bit back a shout and instead turned her attention to holding on to the bars running along the side of the tunnel for dear life; she wouldn't be helping her brother by panicking. Charlie, being the calm and sensible one, didn't even flinch at the impact of the wind, perhaps because he had done this same round many times before.

But this felt different than the last few times he had run out to check up on the generators. As her brother stepped through the door and slammed it shut behind him, locking it into place and cutting off the wind's breath, Juliana's mind inevitably went back to the last time someone had walked through this door. Another crew member, Stan, was the mechanic who first noticed an irregularity in generator 6's readings a couple days back. He had gone on his own to make sure the machine didn't have anything inhibiting it (ice short-circuiting the wires inside the boxes was a constant danger, especially since they didn't have any extra wires to make replacements with), but the only thing he could find were small, white spores. They seemed to grow over every part of the interior of the machine, drawing the heat out of the electricity while at the same time filling the electrical flow with their own freezing temperature. Stan had cleaned out every spore he could find, but on the way back he had been assaulted by that…_thing_. No one had seen the creature for weeks, but something had set it off on a murdering rampage. Stan barely made it into the tunnel with his sanity, let alone his life. Now the same problems had resurfaced, and it was up to Charlie to fix it. (Suffice it to say, Stan had stoutly refused to ever go near generator 6 again.)

Juliana bit her lip and tried, in vain, to slow her rapid breathing. Oh, how she hated this waiting, watching her brother through the circular window as he tromped through the snow outside. But her brother managed to make it to the generator in one piece, and she released half of her held breath; now for the real test. She could hear her own heartbeat in her ears as she watched Charlie reach for the machine's control door.

Out in the blinding snow, Charlie had wasted no time opening up radio communication with the head dome. As soon as he buzzed in, the captain's familiar female voice was heard through the speakers in his helmet. "Captain Ida to Charlie Rookman. Can you read me?"

"Loud and clear, ma'am," he said, biting back a grunt as yet another powerful gust of cold wind nearly knocked him flat on his back. His suit may be made out of high-tech gadgets and genetically-modified animal furs, but that didn't seem to mask the fact that Charlie was freezing his butt off. "I've reached generator 6."

"Open her up," the captain growled without hesitation. Captain Ida was not a woman to be kept waiting.

Charlie obliged and clicked open the generator's control box door. The sight made his breath catch; every inch of the inside of generator 6 was a thick coating of white spores that looked so delicate and soft he mistook it for clouds. Remembering his orders to report back immediately, he said, "Captain, it's happening again. They're coating generator 6. It's…it's like nothing I've ever seen. There might even be more than last time. Hold on," Charlie lifted his free hand to his helmet and pressed the black button that was there. The sharp metallic click that followed a flash of light confirmed that his picture had been taken, saved, and was being uploaded into the central computer's main frame.

"How the hell do they keep getting in there?" The captain buzzed in, her voice clipped and harsh. Charlie rarely let himself get offended by her tone; she was often rude and agonizing to be with when she was particularly agitated or confused. "Never mind about that, just get rid of them. Now."

Charlie breathed in heavily and muttered, "Understood, ma'am." This was it, the moment of truth; if he started to clear out the spores would he be able to make it back to the door before the creature got him? The thing certainly seemed to act more aggressively when the spores were disturbed.

But these spores were slowly destroying their generators. If that was allowed to continue, the dome might not be able to maintain its current level of heat, and they'd eventually all freeze to death. Couldn't the creature see that? Couldn't it understand that they needed these generators to survive? Just before he went to touch the first batch of spores, he asked, "And what—" Suddenly his own words were cut off by his transmitter which beeped and squeaked incessantly in his ear before he was forced to cut the connection. Charlie cursed the faulty connection; the wind must be interfering with the settings. Shrugging, he began to scrape off the spores with his gloved hand, marveling at how they seeming to disappear into nothingness the moment he touched their outer shell.

He didn't realize that right behind him, a section of wind had separated itself from the rest of the pack and was forming itself into something new.

Charlie dusted off his hands and admired the spore-free interior of generator 6; a few more days of stable heat had just been assured. Confident now, and eager to let the captain know of his success, he flicked on his radio connection again. But what came through wasn't the captain's voice, and it wasn't static; it was like a distant howl. Almost like the wind itself had become part of the radio wave.

He turned up the volume on his speaker, and suddenly he could hear it: a woman's voice, distant and fragile. But it couldn't be…no, Charlie thought that he must be mistaken. The voice on the other end—

"Charlie? My baby Charlie, where did you go?" His mother's pained voice filled his eardrums and his mind, twisting his heart into knots. "Charlie?"

Charlie was stunned. "Mother? I-is that you?" he said, but his eyes quickly widened as he understood what had happened: the creature had somehow found its way into the radio signal, and into his mind. It was making him hear his mother, his own mother, and it sounded like she was on her death bed. Charlie clutched the sides of his helmet instinctively and yelled, "No! You're not my mother!"

But the creature, sensing that its prey was wise to her tactics, didn't let up. Its voice grew louder and louder, until Charlie's head was filled past the breaking point with his mother's dying screams. "Stop! Stop it!" Now he was screaming with her. "Get out of my head! Please, don't hurt her, let her go! Please, stop!"

When the screaming refused to stop Charlie threw off his helmet in desperation. But he quickly realized his mistake; the wind blew away his helmet, and the screams were still in his mind. He was at the mercy of more than just the elements now.

He tried to run back to the base, but ice had formed on his ankles, trapping him. Charlie looked up, tears stinging his eyes, and he found himself looking into the ghostly eyes of a vapid figure made entirely out of wind. Every movement of her body was composed of slight twists in the way the wind and ice blew around her, and she was staring into him with such intensity he thought he might shatter like glass. The creature opened its mouth as if to scream, but what came out was a blast of icy wind that hit the back of Charlie's throat like ice water. The last thing Charlie Rookman heard was the sound of his mother dying as everything went black.

Juliana, who had been watching everything in shocked silence, finally found herself screaming bloody murder as the creature's breath entered her brother's body. But she couldn't hear her own screams, and she couldn't look away. All she could do was watch, helpless, as her brother fell lifeless to the ground.


	2. Chapter 1

**The Doctor has arrived! Not the planet he was aiming for, but that's not going to stop him and Rose from exploring.

This will be the last chapter for a while, so bear with me and my schedule!**

A week passed and it was a quiet day on the base. The wind continued to ravage the comet's surface outside, but there hadn't been any recent deaths. Thank goodness.

But the crew members who had been struggling to survive this past month were about to have all their prayers, hopes, and dreams answered. Two of the three domes that made up the base were equally small in size. One had a gaping hole in its roof, and the other was entirely unoccupied. The inside was made entirely out of steel, and its walls were one giant window that stretched around the entire dome. Ice had long since coated the windows and their frames, but there were parts of the glass that remained untouched. It was in the center of this vacant dome that a peculiar blue box appeared, blue light pulsing from the light on top of the box and making a noise that could only be described as a kind of whirring or groaning. It was the TARDIS, and as soon as the materializing circuit was complete, two passengers stepped off. The first one out of the box was a human girl named Rose Tyler, wearing a black fur coat and close-fitting snow pants. Her blond hair tumbled down her shoulders and she breathlessly curled the strands behind her ears; after being trapped in a parallel world filled with Cybermen, Rose was eager to go on another adventure with her brilliant tour guide, the Doctor. And, though she tried hard not to think about it too much, she wanted something to distract her mind from Mickey Smith, the man whom she had once loved and who had chosen to stay in that parallel world forever.

Behind her came the tour guide himself, a man that was known by everyone as simply "the Doctor". No salutes or regal titles for him; he was a Timelord of the planet Gallifrey, the last of his kind. Once he had had a whole crowd of companions travelling with him, voicing their various opinions and generally getting into life-threatening situations on a daily basis. But then came the Time War, and the Doctor was forever changed. He was so close to giving up on the whole universe, so close to letting himself rot in his own guilt and self-hate—but then Rose happened. He had seen her in the basement of a London department store, and he had grabbed her hand and told her to run. And she did; she never stopped running. Even after the Doctor changed his face they ran through time and space, both away from danger, and towards each other. With every hand-hold, with every tight hug, their relationship evolved further into something greater than either of them could even begin to comprehend.

But the Doctor wasn't thinking about the future of their relationship right then. He came swaggering off the TARDIS with the usual bounce in his step, hands tucked nonchalantly in his pockets and a wide grin plastered on his face. He wore his usual brown pinstripe suit and tie, as well as a long brown coat and white converse. His brown hair spiked up in all directions, and a set of sideburns defined his sharp features, giving him a sort of cheeky look about him. Any casual observer could easily describe him as a good-looking man in his 20s or 30s, and never guess that he was actually at least 900 years old.

"Rose Tyler, you're gonna see things that you've never seen before," the Doctor said with a laid-back attitude. He "showing off" to his various companions, complete with side-long glances and secret smiles, but even his lazy demeanor barely covered the fact that he was bristling with excitement. Rose wasn't the kind of companion you could just casually take to the other side of the galaxy and back. "Ice palace ballrooms, glaciers bigger than Mt. Everest, the best skiing this side of the universe…"

"Is it, now?" Rose said, giggling and eyeing him playfully. The Doctor could contain his smile no longer; the bright smiles Rose gave off so easily were infectious.

"Oh, yeah!" The Doctor bunched up his chest and took a look at his surroundings. He was all prepared to start up on his history lesson (a lesson that would include some of his own personal experiences), but then he and Rose saw the view outside. "It's, uh…" The Doctor pivoted on his feet and looked through all the windows in turn before muttering, "Well, it's certainly flatter than I remember."

Rose laughed aloud and couldn't help it; she punched the Doctor lightly on the shoulder. It was clear that he'd made a mistake in his calculations and the TARDIS had landed somewhere unexpected. Not that that was a bad thing, but she had been looking forward to seeing the Doctor ski down the slopes of some alien glacier. Or maybe fall down with her on the ice rink. And then maybe, just maybe, they could finally sit down peacefully for two minutes and enjoy a cup of hot coco in front of a roaring fire. No aliens taking over the world, no angry tribesmen throwing spears at them, none of that. But this was the life Rose had chosen all those years ago, and for all the Doctor's little mishaps she wouldn't regret a minute of it. "So where are we, then, Doctor?" she asked him.

The Doctor continued to turn on his heels, glaring at the outside world like he'd find a sign or something labeled, "Planet so-and-so Welcomes You!". "I'm not sure. Probably some tiny ball of ice flying through the galaxy." He stepped closer to one of the windows and looked up. "Got two suns, though, it's not every day you see that…" Something in the Doctor's chest twitched a little as he said those words. _Gallifrey had had two suns_, he thought wistfully, remembering the deep amber color that had once been the skies of his home planet.

Rose came up next to him, not noticing his hesitation. "What's with the wind outside?" She asked. The wind had begun to pelt the window with an increased force, never stopping and never holding back.

"No idea," The Doctor muttered, shaking his head and running a hand through his hair. Then, as if by a flick of a switch, the Doctor jumped up and abruptly said, "Come on. Let's see who else lives here, eh?" He headed for the steel door on the opposite side of the room, a door that was average in height but looked incredibly sturdy. "Someone's gone to the trouble of building this lovely place; I'd hate to see it deserted."

Rose smiled and shrugged her shoulders; it never ceased to amaze her how the Doctor was able any planet in the entire universe and be entirely comfortable with taking the local ruler out to tea. She took one last look at the wind-swept surface of whatever planet they had tumbled onto, and then she turned and practically skipped after the Doctor.

If she had taken one last look back, she would have seen a section of wind swirl around itself to form a female face. The woman's eyes followed Rose's back on her way out, and the woman of wind disappeared.

* * *

The Doctor and Rose had stepped into a steel corridor, its walls lined with tangled wires and patches of cheap insulation. They were nearing the main dome when the Doctor muttered, "Hold on," and stopped in front of an old monitor. It was attached to the wall with only the shabby remains of a metal support, but is flickered to life as soon as the Doctor passed the blue light of his sonic screwdriver over its screen.

"Let's see what we've got here," the Doctor said, stepping to the side so Rose could see what was gradually appearing on the monitor. The image was fuzzy and distorted but it was clearly a black and white map that outlined the entire base. After taking away the sonic device and allowing the computer to adjust, it only took the Doctor a few seconds to recognize the image. "Oh," he said, eyes widening, "it's a Dydiken base!"

"Yeah, and who are they? Are they dangerous?" Rose asked, knowing that as wonderful as these creatures might be there was an equal chance that they could be hostile.

"The Dydiken? Nah, they're harmless. Scientists of the universe, they are; they know so much about every fact in the whole of creation that they need two heads to contain it all. Can you imagine that? Two heads?" Rose hid a sad smile as she recalled the Doctor's old form mentioning multiple heads, mere seconds before he regenerated before her eyes. "Had a friend once who was one of them. Well, I say friend…" the Doctor paused as he remembered the encounter, then he jumped back to the map on the screen. "This must be one of their research bases. See the three domes?" He pointed to each of the domes in turn, stopping his finger on the leftmost dome. "We were in their display room. Used to be these bases were everywhere in the galaxy; people could just pop in and take a tour of the Dydiken's latest research anytime, any day."

"Like a traveling alien museum?"

"Sort of, yeah."

Rose pictured hundreds of impossible creatures pouring into the small dome, examining ice samples and reading the informative plaques under each display. She smiled a bit at the thought and wondered if they could take a private tour. "So what happened to them? Are the Dydikens still here?"

"If they were here there would have been artifacts on display," The Doctor said sadly, "No, something else must have found them first. They weren't exactly a fighting race, I doubt they could have held out against an attack from another species." He frowned slightly, narrowed his eyes at the screen, and raised his sonic again. "But there aren't any signs of attack; no bodies, no signs of a struggle, nothing. Something's not right…" The Doctor soniced the screen until a block of text appeared: the most recent log of the base's activities.

But they only got to read it for a few seconds before an alarm suddenly blazed to life. Red lights flashed, the screen shuddered and faded to black, and a robotic female voice sounded, "Intruder alert. Intruder alert."

"Oh, do we have to do that?" The Doctor moaned, his shoulders sagging not unlike that of a pouting toddler.

He shoved his sonic screwdriver away just as the door at the opposite end of the tunnel slid open. Two men in thick spacesuits ran at them, their thick guns raised and trained on the Doctor and Rose's chests. The pair threw their hands up in surrender, she eyeing the guns warily and he glaring at the two men with undisguised annoyance. Guns already aimed at them and not even a chance to say "hello"; not the best first impression.

But the men stopped short as soon as they realized that their targets were humanoid. Surprise and shock filled their eyes, and the younger man (with black hair cut military style) relaxed his grip on his gun. But the older man (his hair black, but streaked with thick grey lines) held his gun in an even tighter grip.

"Who the hell are you and how did you get in here?!" The older man practically shouted, his gaze cold and disciplined as he debated on which victim to shoot first.

The Doctor breathed in heavily and replied, as calmly as he could manage under the circumstances, "I'd be happy to answer that for you, if you weren't pointing a gun at me and my friend."

But the older man was not one to be trifled with. He eyed the Doctor up and down and barked, "And you'll be without a brain if you try and mess around with me, so tell me: who are you and where did you come from?" When the Doctor hesitated, he pulled out the gun's safety lock as a warning. "Tell me! Now!"

Rose shot the Doctor a quick glance, and was satisfied when he answered his demands. She knew his position on guns but the Doctor's pride was not worth getting their brains blown out. "I'm the Doctor and this is Rose. We came here on my, um, ship, and we're not quite sure where we are."

The two men stared hard at each other, physically standing only feet away but their views so opposite they might as well be on separate planets. Each man's partner just stood as silently as they could manage, hoping they didn't blink in some way the other side wouldn't like. But at long last, the man with the gun slowly lowered his weapon. "Yeah? Well we don't know, either," he said. He turned to Rose and gave her the same measuring glance, as if calculating her worth to him. "Human?" he asked her.

Rose nodded; that seemed the safest thing to do. "Yeah. You?"

"Ay." Both men threw their guns back over the shoulder and the Doctor and Rose were able to lower their hands. But although the threat from each party's stance was gone, an oppressing air of hostility hung over them like a cloud.

The man took a deep breath and said outright, "'M Zachary Burman, and this is my son, Jonathon. Members of the North Star Merchants, or what's left of them."

"Most everyone calls me Jon," The younger boy said, giving Rose a shy smile.

Rose cautiously smiled back and said a polite, "Hello."

The Doctor nodded to the father-son pair and decided that formalities were done for the moment. "Then, Zachary Burman, tell me this: why are _you_ here?" he said, cocking his head and leaning forward and backward expectantly, "Correct me if I'm wrong but this isn't exactly New Earth, or anywhere close to it for that matter. And you're hiding out in a Dydiken base, what's that about?"

Zach involuntarily gripped his gun tighter and replied tersely, "I'm afraid I'm not qualified to answer those questions for you."

"Then who is?"

The man looked at both the Doctor and Rose, then finally nodded and gave his clipped reply: "Follow me." Then Zachary Burman turned around and walked back the way he and his son had come, and Rose and the Doctor had no choice but to follow him.


	3. Chapter 2

**So sorry for the long wait! My schedule's going through a bit of a crisis period, so here's hoping I can get the next chapters out in a reasonable amount of time.**

The Doctor and Rose followed their guides through the door and emerged into a dome that was twice as wide as it was tall. There were no windows in this dome, with the walls instead lined with thick insulation pads. Various machines, motors, and other devices lined the walls, with the main control panel in the center of the dome. A narrow staircase led up to a platform above them that served as a living space, complete with several makeshift beds and small chairs. Large electrical lamps dangling from the ceiling illuminated the forms of six men and women wandering the dome floor, some watching various monitors intently, others looking like they just sat down for the first time in hours. They all wear dark colored snow suits and have earmuffs either around their necks or somewhere close at hand.

But the crew members are anything but relaxed. As soon as the Doctor and Rose enter the dome everyone turned from whatever they were doing to stare at them in open amazement.

"What the hell?" a nearby technician mutters, scratching his dirty blond mob of hair and blinking fast, "Where'd you come from?"

Before they could respond a woman strode up to Zach, her eyes stiff and closed off from any inner emotions. All crew members backed out of her way, respecting both her age and her apparent position. "What is the meaning of this?" she demanded, glancing at the Doctor and his companion, "Zachary, report."

Zachary was holding himself at a stiff attention, but he twitched with irritation at the woman's tone. "Captain, these two were the ones who set off the alarm in corridor 1."

"Hello, I'm the Doctor. This is Rose," The Doctor said, stepping forward slightly. Traditionally speaking, he treated those in authority with the highest respect, but the Doctor had seen that final report in the computer's data base, and he wanted answers.

The captain turned to the Doctor. "I'm Captain Ida of the North Star Merchants, 2nd quadrant district." She glanced between him and Rose. "Your wife?"

"Oh, no, no. We're friends, yeah, just, uh, friends," The Doctor and Rose stumbled over their words quickly, giving each other small glances and blushing mightily. It wasn't the first time they had been mistaken for a couple, but a small part of Rose sighed in mild disappointment. She wished there could be a time when he wouldn't be so quick to dismiss that notion.

Captain Ida (who had noticed the exchange but decided there was no point in prying) went right into questioning the newcomers. "How did you get in here? There's not a spark of detectable life outside these walls. According to most maps this planet is too insignificant to even exist."

The Doctor looked wounded. "I wouldn't say that," he said, "Every planet's important, just like all the people on it."

"But how did you get through this planet's atmosphere? And why hasn't anyone come sooner? We've been sending out distress calls for weeks."

"We're here because my, uh, ship, thingy, landed here," The Doctor replied as calm as he could manage. He hated interrogations, despised them, and he could feel this woman's stress begin to spread over the entire room. "Believe me, we were aiming for the ice slopes of Tiran 16."

The captain barked out a laugh. "Huh! You're a long way off if Tiran was where you and your friend were headed. We may not know where we are relative to Earth, Doctor, but at least we can tell when we're in a different star system."

Rose could tell that that verbal blow had hit its mark. The Doctor might pretend not to care where his ship ended up, but the TARDIS and her malfunctions did frustrate him at times. Jacky Tyler, Rose's mum, still couldn't forgive him for taking Rose out of her life for a whole year, even if it was by accident. But as usual, the Doctor's emotions did not show on his face.

"But we're not the only ones far away from home, are we?" The Doctor said, eyes darkening, "This has got to be at least a billion light-years from Earth, what are you all doing here?"

"We didn't come here on purpose."

"What, you just happened to accidently travel a billion light-years in any direction?"

"That's not what I meant," Captain Ida puffed out air through her nose and abruptly turned, walking back to the center counsel with heavy footfalls. "Alright, men and women, back to work," she shouted to the crew, before pulling the nearby technician by his sleeve towards her. She murmured to him, "Travis, check out dome 1, make sure everything's secure. If a whole ship can get through…" Her voice trailed off as she nervously glanced towards the door, as if she expected something to burst through it.

Travis muttered a quick, "Yes, captain," before he slipped past the group and through the door to the display dome.

As the technician left, Zach shot his son a warning glance. "I'd best be going…repair work…" Jon mumbled, and he walked away, too. Soon the whole dome had returned to their duties, only shooting curious glances at the Doctor, Rose, and Zach as the threesome followed the captain to the center of the dome.

Captain Ida flicked a switch on the panel to shut off the small red light labeled "alarm", and turned back to the Doctor. Rose was struck then by how tired she looked; how long had this crew been here? And why weren't they able to leave?

"The Northern Star Merchants Company has been going through what can be described as a financial crisis," The captain began, "We don't have enough money to pay for new ships, fuel, or repairs so we have been forced to make our deliveries on worn out hulks of metal. At least, that was the state of things when we entered the Zentack system. But as we passed by the two suns of Valden on our way to the Hydro 2 star system, our autopilot malfunctioned. We thought it had been a minor error in the system, but when we switched the controls to manual the effect snowballed. The entire ship stopped functioning correctly. Our only option was to land on a small white planet orbiting the suns and make repairs as best we could. But…" She looked down, as if in shame.

Zach shot an accusatory look at the captain that was not missed by the Doctor and said, "But in its damaged state, and with winds that made it damn near impossible to see, the ship was unable to land correctly. We aimed for the only sign of habitation: three metal domes in the middle of an ice field. Unfortunately, we hit our mark. The ship crashed through one of the dome's roofs and resulted in the death of every crew member, except those you see here and three others. Our ship is beyond repair and we have no way to get off this rock, nor do we have direct communication with any nearby ships or planets. The wind outside is strong enough to prevent anything except the weakest distress signal from getting through."

The Doctor nodded thoughtfully and asked, "Captain Ida, you are currently sitting in a Dydiken research base, and the Dydiken were, first and foremost, collectors, scientists, and even engineers. There must have been something you could have used to fix your ship. Vanishing species don't just pack up and take everything with them."

"Well, these aliens did. We had to tear off parts of the ship just to keep this dome insulated."

Rose could see the Doctor's gears turning in that sculpted head of his. Technically he could simply grab all eight crew members by the hand and drag them into the TARDIS, but Rose knew that the Doctor always hesitated when it came to showing people the wonders of his magic box. And rightly so; Timelord technology wasn't something you showed to just anyone. If a human from Ancient Greece saw something that was bigger on the inside it could potentially alter the course of human history. There was also a part of Rose that enjoyed the TARDIS and its wonders being a secret between her and the Doctor, and very few others. Besides, Rose was just as curious to learn about what had happened here as the Doctor was. She had only had to read the first line of that final report to know that the Dydiken had had a reason for leaving. "If it isn't too much trouble, could I see the ship?" the Doctor asked casually, acting on his "tinkerer" impulses.

The captain squared her shoulders and replied firmly, "I'm afraid you can't."

"Why not?" The Doctor said, narrowing his eyes. He could practically smell the danger that was steadily rising with every second they spent here. _We shouldn't have come_, the Doctor thought. Hopefully they could fix this crew's ship and get off this unsettling planet quickly.

"When we crashed through the roof of dome 3 we exposed the room's interior to the outside elements." The captain explained, "At ground level we hardly noticed the wind, at first. But the next day, just before we were to attempt repairing the ship, the wind began whipping across the snow dunes and into that room so fast parts of the ship were torn off."

Now it was Zach's turn to look away out of shame. "Captain Ida had ordered us to hold off any and all repair trips until the storms blew over, but me and some of the other guys argued about how much of the ship would be left. We disobeyed her orders and tried to get to the ship on foot. Oh, we took the basic precautions, like thick snow suits and helmets, but that wasn't enough. Everything was fine, but the men started getting twitchy. Swatting their ears or clutching their heads like something was inside it. That's when they all started screaming, telling someone, or something, to stop whatever horrors were going on inside their heads. They cried out for their mothers, wives, sisters, daughters; didn't matter, I suppose. I fled as soon as the first boy died, when the icy wind filled his body like water in a bucket. And the wind never stopped until the poor lad couldn't scream anymore. I caught a brief second of that wind as I closed the door to the dome, and let me tell you, Doctor, this wind doesn't moan. It screams, like a dying woman."

His words were met with stony silence as Rose and the Doctor processed this new information. Something was on this planet, something dangerous; but what?


	4. Chapter 3

**The Doctor and Rose learn a little more about what's been happening at the base, while Captain Ida and Zach make their own discoveries. And there's still more trouble to come…

Hope you've been enjoying the Doctor and Rose's latest adventure. If you have time, please comment and review – I would love to hear from you all! Thanks for reading!**

Rose glanced at the Doctor and wasn't surprised to see his dark eyes also glancing at her. This planet was clearly dangerous, and that meant a full-scale rescue mission was needed. But would the amount of lives that would be potentially lost worth the effort? Rose knew the answer to that question, the same as the Doctor did, but if they ended up getting trapped here…

It didn't matter. These people needed saving, and the Doctor was usually rather good at that sort of thing. He thrust his hands into his pockets and asked Zach, "So you really have no idea where you are?"

"None."

"But didn't you find any sort of Dydiken navigation systems or servers?"

Zach bit his lip, as if it pained him to continue to answer in a negative fashion. "Only the one you found in the western corridor, but we weren't able to fix it." Captain Ida shot the Doctor a sharp glance.

But the Timelord ignored the stares he was given and sat back on his heels, saying, "Yeah, neither could I."

"But, you turned it on…" Rose briefly cut in. She always felt out-of-place whenever the Doctor got involved in heated scientific and political debates, mostly because of his sheer brilliance. Some days it awed and inspired her, while other moments it left Rose feeling dejected and useless. The Doctor was an alien species who could see the whole of time and space at every waking moment, granting him almost infinite knowledge of the universe and beyond. Compared to him, she was a high school drop-out whose highest paying job was working at a shop in London. She was an ordinary human with a life that was only made extraordinary by the Doctor and his TARDIS. In the back of Rose's mind she might remember the words of the Doctor's last regeneration, back when he wore black instead of brown, but it didn't change the fact that compared to Jupiter, she was barely the height of an asteroid.

The Doctor turned to her and frowned, his hand coming up and scratching the back of his head. "That computer was wiped clean," he explained, "I could temporarily zap the monitor to life and scan through recent records but that's it."

"And what did you find?" The captain resumed her air of authority and stared the Doctor down as best she could. These strangers might be superior experts on alien matters but this was still her dominion.

The "superior expert on alien matters" gave the captain a long and penetrating look; Captain Ida was struck by the feeling that he might be looking into her very soul. There was something to this man, something vast and unimaginable; a fathomless pit with darkness and little else. He said, "The Dydiken didn't shut down the computers, their base did. Part of its defense mechanism. Your ship crashes into the base, computer thinks it's an invasion and the whole system shuts down."

"But we were able to send distress calls, loads of them," the captain explained. She turned to Zach for confirmation, "The last one we sent out was, what, two days ago?"

"'S right," he replied, nodding.

The Doctor took a deep breath, and Rose bit her lip. She knew that face better than anyone; she dreaded it even. He only wore it when the next words out of his mouth would bear nothing but bad news. In the darkest reaches of her nightmares, Rose would see that face turn to her and utter words lathered in devastation. But at the moment, the news was only concerning the survival of the base. "See, that's where the problem is," he elaborated, "because these records did have some very interesting entries. For example, the last and most recent log stated that the remaining Dydiken were abandoning this mission and deserting their base to some 'greater power'. But something happened to the computer's wiring and their distress call continued to run on automatic."

"And how long ago was that?" Zach asked, dreading the answer. If what he feared to be the case was true…

The Doctor didn't answer him immediately, as if he was considering softening the blow. Then, "Over a century ago."

His heavy words were met with stunned silence. Rose asked, "So this base has been projecting a distress call for more than a century?"

"Yep." The Doctor said, popping the "p" and looking at his companion sidelong, "A blip in time compared to the lifespan of the universe, but just long enough for this side of the galaxy to dismiss the signal as an annoyance. Sure, they might have investigated it at one point, just to check for life forms, but they couldn't find any. Chances are the surrounding planets knew about the trouble that could be found on this planet and figured it wasn't worth their time to attempt a search-and-rescue mission."

Captain Ida's eyes were wide; she had been frightened when their ship had crashed landed here, but this…"You mean," she whimpered, "all of our signals, all the work we did to make them possible, they were for nothing?"

The Doctor swallowed. "I'm afraid so." At this the captain clapped a hand to her mouth and squeezed her eyes shut. She was the captain and was supposed to stay strong in times of crisis, but the only hope she had had after the crash was the distress call system. They had been so thankful it was still operational, so hopeful that they could live…but now that hope had been snuffed out as quickly as a candle in a wind storm. Her crew was well and truly trapped here, with only a lost traveler and his "friend" to help them.

Zach cursed and kicked his foot against the corner of a control table. He had warned Ida that trying to land a fuel-deprived ship was risky, he _knew_ it. But one thing had led to another and he was stuck on this infernal planet with everyone else. _Damn it_, he thought, glaring at his captain side-long. And now Captain Ida was close to sobbing! Couldn't she hold it in and at least act like she had the situation under control? The crew needed stability in a crisis situation…and he could give that to them. By god, if he was Captain, Zach would give them a rock the size of Mt. Everest II. Why, he would make them believe the whole universe revolved around them if it meant keeping the crew sane.

And just who did this "doctor" think he was, striding in here with his calm and collected attitude? Thinking he knew so much when all he'd been doing was pointing out the fruitlessness of their endeavors? Zach turned and looked the Doctor and his companion up and down again, forcing himself to look past the man's words. What made the Doctor so special? He was dressed so formally and with so many layers it looked like he was ready to watch a derby. And the girl? She was of no significance to him; a pretty face from London, judging by her accent, and nothing more. The Doctor glanced in his direction, as if sensing the attitude of his thoughts, and Zach locked eyes with him. He saw the never-ending blackness of the pit, but Zach saw something else in the Doctor's eyes: an unyielding wall. What would cause a man to build such a thick blockade around his entire soul? "You gonna to help us or not?" Zach heard himself saying. His voice sounded eerily sinister, but he found that he quite liked it that way. Made him sound much more commanding.

The Doctor raised an eyebrow at Zach's tone, and replied, "I'll do all I can." He turned to the captain, who had regained her composure. "First thing's first: statue report. How's it been here?"

"Not good," Captain Ida said tersely, bitterness creeping into her words, "I have but six men and women under my command, only a small fraction of what we had when we set out on this accursed assignment. We're trapped here, surrounded by cold and wind that kills. Our food supply is running low and we have no way to replenish it. And now you tell us that our distress calls are utterly worthless. In short, Doctor, we have been stuck on this block of ice for weeks, and we're about as close to leaving as the wind is to stopping. So, yeah, everything's fine here."

The Doctor frowned. "No need to get tetchy…" he muttered under his breath, and Rose smiled. But then his frown faded into a half grin as he rocked back on his heels, saying, "But not you've got me, and that changes things. Could you tell me a little more about this wind you've got? Has anyone seen it recently?"

Captain Ida straightened her back and replied evenly, "No one who's seen it has lived to tell the tale. The last victim was a man named Charlie Rookman. We sent him out to look at one of our generators a few days ago and his sister watched him die."

"Ah," The Doctor breathed, "Who's the sister?"

"Juliana, over there." The captain paused to turn and nod to the woman, who was busy watching a machine's monitor and taking notes. "She was the one who came in with the notes about generator 6 malfunctioning again."

"And what was wrong with the generator?"

Zach gritted his teeth again and spoke up. "We only have suspicions. The six generators are the only functional ones on the base, and the main source of our heat. But it's the 6th one that's giving us the most trouble. It malfunctioned once a week before, but now it's guaranteed to happen every few days. We've sent out two men in the past two weeks to fix the problem, and all we've got from it is one less crew member and a blurry photograph."

The Doctor's dark eyes penetrated Zach's hazel ones. "Show me the photograph," he said, before shrugging off his coat and throwing it casually over the back of one of the machines.

Zach nodded, turned away, and led them to the machine Juliana was working on. He felt a smudge of pride at the fact that the Doctor had turned to him for information, and not the captain. But Captain Ida was of course the one to hasten to the front and tap Juliana on her shoulder. She said to the girl, "Juliana, I think you should go take your break now."

She replied without turning around. "Thank you, ma'am, but I'm—" The captain lightly gripped her shoulder and Juliana turned to face her. When the girl saw the captain's face and the company she was with, she nodded quickly. She muttered a quick, "Oh," before clutching her clipboard to her chest and rushing past the group. Rose watched her fleeting form as she escaped up the narrow staircase, and made up her mind. She was usually better with dealing with this side of people than the Doctor was anyway, and, with a quick glance to the Doctor, Rose followed Juliana to do her own investigating.

The Doctor watched Rose walk up the stairs until she disappeared on the platform, and he returned his focus to Zach, who was working with the various knobs and switches. "We have Charlie's last conversation with the Captain on record," he was saying, "The quality's not very good, but you can get the idea." With a final push of a button, static was emitted from nearby speakers and the recording began.

It began with Captian Ida's voice calling Charlie through his radio. As the recording progressed, Zach watched the Doctor's stoic expression become more mournful with each word. His eyes lost the sparkle Zach had seen upon meeting him, and his eyes were downcast, like he was regretting that Charlie's final acts had even happened. Not possible; was he _blaming_ himself for Charlie's death? Sure, some people had that right (the Captain herself being the obvious choice), but a man who had no way of being here? The Doctor never met Charlie, why should he feel grief for him? Did he actually think a death like his mattered in the grand scheme of things?

The recording ended with static on one end and the captain's strained voice as she called Charlie's name. Quietly, Zach pressed the button again and the recording abruptly cut off. The silence that followed the last words of Charlie Rookman was uncomfortable, to say the least. Zach cleared his throat and flicked on a nearby monitor. "And here's that picture he sent us. Fat lot of good it did us, or him," he growled pushing the screen over for the Doctor to see.

Surprisingly, the Doctor leaned forward excitedly and put on a set of black-rimmed glasses, which balanced precariously on the bridge of his nose at a slight angle. A deep rumble came out of his throat as he muttered, "Well, look at you!"

"Do you know what they are?" Captain Ida asked, slightly leaning over the Doctor's shoulder as she tried to see it through his eyes. Most every day she and the crew poured over the picture, trying to discern something through the blur of white, but they hadn't come up with any ideas.

The Doctor kept his grin latched on his face (or perhaps it was getting wider) as he inadvertently dashed the captain's hopes by saying, "Not a clue." He whipped back around and put his glasses back in his suit pocket. "But I'll need to get a sample of those spores. How many generators have they infiltrated?"

_Infiltrated?_ What was this, a virus? But Zach nodded (happy that he could finally provide something besides a "no" or "follow me") and said, "They're probably back in generator 6, but I can't guarantee they haven't found their way into the other generators."

"Then let's get them. Onwards and upwards!" The Doctor grinned suddenly, smiling as wide as a little boy who just found out a girl fancied him. Zach eyed him dubiously, but Captain Ida sighed in relief.

"Glad to hear you're so motivated," She said, turning to Zach with a renewed sense of hope in her heart. Maybe this Doctor person knew something after all. "Zachary, get him into a snowsuit. I'll get the radio systems up and running."

Zach sniffed disdainfully at his captain's back and silently bemoaned the fact that he was being ordered about like a common solider. He flicked his head towards the line of supply closets lining the dome, barked, "Follow me," and led the way. The Doctor, of course, followed him effortlessly, bouncing on the balls of his feet and grinning from ear to ear.

Not too far away, Travis the technician was just entering the dome where the TARIDS had landed. The first thing he saw, of course, was the box itself, sitting in the middle of the dome as innocent as ever. The technician glanced over it at first, before he realized it was the only thing in the room and therefore the only clue as to where the Doctor had come from. He stepped closer to the police box, but didn't attempt to go close enough to touch it.

Travis had decided to wear earmuffs in place of a radio earpiece, so he used his watch radio instead. He clicked a button on the device, raised it to his lips, and said, "No ship here, Captain, just a blue box. What should I do?" He released the button on his watch, but all that came from it was distant static. He tried again, "Captain, do you copy, I said a blue box." With no change, Travis slapped his watch in frustration. "Another faulty connection," he muttered, and he prepared to leave. This box was certainly intriguing, but with no way of contacting the captain he feared he might disturb other plans she might have.

But as Travis turned to leave, a loud cracking sound ripped through the air. He turned towards the windows on his right and watched as a large crack appeared on the glass, splintering and spider-webbing until it spanned the length of the window.

"Oh, god," Travis muttered, his eyes wide, but before he could run for the door the window burst open. Icy wind swept through the hole and converged on Travis in an instant, entering his body through his mouth and ears. He tried to scream, but his breath was abruptly cut off as the demons inside suffocated him. The icy wind only left his body when it had been reduced to little more than an empty shell.

More wind entered the dome through the crack and began coating the interior in ice and frost. A section of wind formed itself into the shape of a woman, who looked disdainfully at the body of Travis, the former technician. Her hollow eyes were practically lifeless, but there was an air of triumph in them as more icy wind consumed the dome.


	5. Chapter 4

**A bit of insight into the stranded crew of the North Star Merchants. But the danger's not over yet…

Again, thank you so much for reading! More readers mean more motivation for writing. Please review if you have time!**

On the second "floor" of the dome, Rose sat next to a sobbing Juliana on one of the thin mattress pads. Around them were stacks of crates with words like "food" and "clothes" written on them in a hasty scrawl.

"He was just the best, you know? Couldn't have had a better brother," Juliana was saying in between sobs and hiccups. Rose suppressed a sigh and put a comforting arm around the woman as she slowly continued, "I-it was my fault. All of it. 'Cause of me we got this job at all. He had all these connections from being a police officer, and I was just a waiter, I wasn't getting anywhere…and then this opening came up and we had to…mum had gone and broke her ankle, so we had to support her, but money was so tight, and with dad gone…" Her voice finally cracked and she covered her face with her hands, stifling a cry.

Rose bit her lip and awkwardly rubbed Juliana's shoulder as she tried to formulate an appropriate response. The two women were about the same age, but somehow Rose felt decades older. She could see how the Doctor could become so detached from the rest of the world; how could he survive otherwise? Every day it was a new group of people, a new problem to solve, another disaster to advert. He'd been doing this for at least 900 years; Rose absently wondered how long it would take before she became the same way.

But Rose would not allow herself to distance herself this way, not yet. She knew exactly how Juliana was feeling in regards to her mum and dad. Rose reached for Juliana's hand had held it as she said, tenderly, "Hey, it'll be alright. The Doctor's here, he can help."

"Help?" Juliana chuckled softly. It was small, but Rose was glad to hear any improvement in her mood. "No one can help me, or anyone in this base." She rubbed her eyes and straightened her back, holding back her remaining tears. "We agreed on this job knowing that one day, we'll call each other on the radio, and one of us won't be able to reply." As if making a statement, Juliana cleared her throat and smiled faintly, now composed. Rose had to admire her ability to push down grief so easily.

"So who is this Doctor of yours?" Juliana said, a slight lift in her tone of voice, "Sounds like you're pretty confident he'll be able to get us off this planet."

Rose nodded and slipped her arm off Juliana's shoulder, but still held the woman's hand. "He's saved people before. Millions, I bet. Even saved the universe on more than one occasion. Earth wouldn't have survived this long if it weren't for him."

"Didn't realize Earth needed saving," Juliana replied, smiling sadly. Rose was surprised to hear this until she remembered that this girl and the rest of her crew had been absent from the Earth and its problems for years now. When had the crew set out? Before Rose could ask Juliana retracted her hand and muttered, "Seems like nice bloke, though."

Rose chuckled softly and stared off into the space beside Juliana's shoulder, a smile playing on her lips as she said, "Yeah…" Hearing the wistful sigh behind her tone, Juliana glanced at Rose's expression. They smiled shyly at each other, like two girls who had just found their first friend.

It was at that moment that a man clambered up the staircase, almost tripping over a wire on the ground. The ends of his brown hair were frayed, like it had been cut by scissors, and his grey and orange snowsuit was slightly discolored.

"You guys seen Travis?" The man asked, leaning his head around boxes like he was in the middle of a game of hide-and-seek. But judging by his worried, almost frantic, expression, this was a lot bigger than a child's game.

Juliana's eyebrows scrunched together. "Yeah, he went to check out dome 1," she replied carefully, "Why? Has something happened?"

The man turned toward her and Rose. His teeth were biting down on his lips so hard Rose wondered why they weren't bleeding yet. "It's just, he hasn't checked in on the radio, and he won't respond…I thought he might've come back early and went to sleep or something…"

"You think something's happened to him?" Juliana asked, standing up. But her question only served to further agitate the man. His eyes grew wider and his chest heaved, like he was about to have a panic attack. Juliana eyes him warily and says, "Collin?"

But Collin quickly fled back down the stairs. Juliana cursed and jogged after him, shouting, "Collin!" Rose followed her, her mouth set in a determined line. It seemed trouble had finally arrived.

Juliana and Rose soon discovered that the first floor atmosphere had become much more frenzied; Collin wasn't the only one worried about Travis' apparent disappearance.

Captain Ida stood in front of the radio control panel and was speaking urgently into the receiver. "Travis, this is the Commanding Dome, do you copy? Travis Moore, report," she says, but only the sound of static answers her.

Collin runs to her shoulder. "Anything?"

"No," The Captain snapped, slamming down the receiver. Why all of these deaths now? They never had this much of a problem before. She turned to Zach, who was approaching quickly with the Doctor. "Zachary, take Jonathon and find what's going on over there. If you see any sign of a problem, get back here immediately. I'm not losing anyone else."

Zach nodded, but he was happy about being sent off to play babysitter for another crew member. "Jon, get my gun," he calls to his son, and the two men run out the door to dome 1.

"Juliana," Captain Ida turned to the girl, and she made a hasty salute, "keep the heat stable and the perimeter secure. Remember, not a breach." Juliana nodded and ran back to the machines on the wall, emotionally stable now that she has work to focus on.

Rose made her way back to the Doctor and nudged him in the shoulder. "So, wind demons, eh?" she said, trying to put as much laughter in her voice as possible. This new regeneration was more chipper than his previous form, but sometimes the Doctor needed a little reminder.

But not at that moment. "I'm sorry, Rose," the Doctor replied, blunt as ever, "this isn't the trip you were hoping for."

"At least we're dressed for it," she piped up, but her heart wasn't in it. Both Rose and the Doctor knew deep down that these people needed help, the kind of help that might prove to be impossible to give.

Suddenly the doors leading to dome 1 were thrown open and then slammed shut. Zach and Jon were stumbling through the middle of the dome, both gasping for air and looking around them with terrified eyes.

Their entrance was met with stunned silence, but Zach wasted no time in breaking it. "Dome 1's overrun, Captain. Travis is dead." Rose heard a quick, feminine-like gasp and turned to see Collin covering his mouth with his hands. Zach awkwardly patted his son on the back and said, "It was all we could do to seal the door."

Captain Ida now stood as still and straight as a statue. When she spoke, her voice betrayed her resurfacing panic. "What overran the dome? What's in there? What exactly is in that dome?"

Rose turns slightly to her Time lord tour guide and whispered, "Doctor?" But he didn't answer her.

"Wind, mum, and ice," Zach continued, "We caught a glimpse of a crack in the wall big enough for a whole blizzard to get in. No one's getting in that dome unless they want to have their nose freeze off. And there was this big blue box in the middle of the dome—"

"A what?" The Captain said, cutting him off with her whip-like voice.

Before the irritated Zach could reply the Doctor stepped forward, saying, "It's a police box, Captain. My ship." He turned his attention to Zach and asked him the all-important question: "Is that dome really impenetrable? Is there no way to reach my ship?"

"None, unless you think you're cunning enough to slip through an ice monsoon unscathed."  
"Try me."

"Now, stop it, both of you," Captain Ida said, giving both men glares. She decided to ignore the Doctor for the time being and turned back to Zach. "Continue, Zachary. What else was in there? Was there anything alive?"

Zach didn't reply right away; his attention still lingered on his brief verbal quarrel with this "doctor". He thought himself so high and mighty, like he was a lord, even a god, compared to the rest of mortal men. "There was this women, there, too," Zach said, giving the door behind him one more glance, "She was tall, and made out of wind. I'm serious; her body was quite literally wind. And she was staring right at us."

At that moment the radio system behind the Captain buzzed to life and static projected into the room. Everyone stared with apprehension at the board, but their cautiousness turned to fear as another sound was heard: wind. The whistling, howling sound of the killing wind. All of a sudden the noise blasted into the Commanding Dome, flooding the room with its scream. There weren't any visible wind creatures present, but the sound was enough for everyone to throw their hands to their ears.

"Earmuffs on!" Captain Ida half screamed, shoving her own on in the process. Now everyone had a set of thick earmuffs covering their ears except for the Doctor, Rose—

—and Collin. The realization that Travis Moore was dead had sunk into Collin's very soul, and he wanted nothing more than to kill Travis' murderer. "You killed him!" he screamed at the howling wind, picking up a nearby broom and brandishing it like a claymore, "YOU KILLED HIM!" In desperation Collin starts swinging the broom at the air, slashing at it like it would break. Nobody tired to stop him; they were too busy trying to block out the sound.

Rose had been trying to cover her ears, but she resorted to gripping the Doctor's hand when she realized that she knew that voice. "That's my mum," she says, whimpering at the sound of it, "Doctor, they've got my mum!"

What Rose did not do was take a moment to look up at the Doctor's face, which had been staring into empty space with a mournful expression. His eyes had regained that pained and distressed look that so often haunted his footsteps during the first years after the Time War. Vaguely he wondered if the feeling would ever stop haunting him. But upon hearing Rose's panicked voice he shouted, "Captain!"

"Juliana, shut all systems down, now!" Captain Ida screamed. On the other side of the room, Juliana struggled with a large lever until finally it pitched forward, abruptly shutting off not only the radio speakers but also the main lights. Only a few, dim bulbs remain flickering, and by their meager light Zach is able to run to Juliana and help her turn on a set of emergency lamps. As more light filled the dome, Rose tried in vain to suppress a whimper. Her eyes had begun to water and now the tears were flowing in earnest.

The Doctor quickly turned to her and put his hands on her shoulders. When he speaks to her, his tone is reassuring, but insistent. "Rose, that wasn't Jackie," he says, almost like he's trying to convince himself of the same fact, "You're mother's safe and far away from here. Do you understand, Rose? That voice wasn't real." But Rose continued to cry into her hands, and the Doctor's face fell. "Come here…" he muttered, and he enveloped Rose in a tight hug. The Doctor rested his chin on the top of Rose's head as she wept openly into his pinstripe jacket, and he couldn't find himself caring that she was probably ruining his favorite outfit. Not like he couldn't sonic it dry later.

"Collin?" Captain Ida's voice drew the Doctor's arms away from their comfortable position around Rose. They both turned and stared openly at Collin, who was lying in the middle of the dome in a fetal position. Somehow his broom had been broken in half, and it lay forgotten beside him.

The Captain approached him slowly, as if she expected him to pounce at any moment. "Collin, can you hear me?"

It was then that the babbling started. Collin began to rock back and forth, muttering incoherent sentences in a voice very unlike his own. Without a nod from the Captain, Zach and Jonathon came up from behind Collin and grabbed him by the arms. The body on the ground made no sound of protest until his captors began dragging him away.

"It's your fault!" He suddenly screamed, causing everyone to jump. Collin's eyes were wide open and incredibly pale, and they were staring at the Doctor. "Your fault!" he repeated, "You killed them, and now you'll kill us!"

Only the Doctor knew what Collin (or whatever had taken over Collin's body) was talking about: his people, the Timelords. The Doctor had had to kill them in order to end the Time War, and these creatures knew that. They were using his pain to plead for mercy. The Doctor set his mouth in a hard line and solemnly pledged, "Not if I can help it."

"You cannot help what has already been done. Your fault!" Was he talking about something the Time War, or something else? Even the Doctor had to wonder if perhaps the creatures was referencing an act he would commit in his future. Collin's breaths became less labored, and everyone thought he was finally dead, but with one last gasp he addressed Rose:

"_Help us, save us,_

_ One of golden eyes;_

_ These humans must die_

_ Or you will never escape with your lives!_"

And Collin's body finally fell limp.

A grave silence followed his words. Zach carefully placed the body on the floor of the dome, and then he turned to the Doctor with restless anger in his eyes. The time for pleasantries and polite words was over. "What've you got to do with all this? Eh?" he shouted, clenching his fists at his side, "Is all this, your fault? Are you the reason the creatures keep attacking us?"

The Doctor was staring mournfully at Collin's stiff body, but he looked up and into Zach's heated eyes. "I'm sorry, really, I am, but these creatures have been planning this attack for a while. They were just waiting for someone to come in contact with them with an open radio signal. Travis must have left his radio on, and they were able to infiltrate the dome through the sound waves."

"But Collin said—"

"What the creature inside Collin was referencing is none of your concern," The Doctor snapped. Such outbursts were not a common response from the Doctor, but there was no way he was going to explain the horrors of the Time War to just anyone, least of all Zachary Burman.

Zach opened his mouth and stepped forward, perhaps to demand to know what was considered "their concern", but Captain Ida intercepted him with a steady hand to his chest. "Enough. Calm down, both of you. This is a difficult time for all of us," she turned and looked at each person in turn, "and we can't afford to turn on each other. Is that clear?"

The Doctor nodded curtly, but Zach was glaring at the Captain with malice, as if she had betrayed them all. By halting his progress, Zach was convinced that Captain Ida had chosen the Doctor's side. He stalked away finally, leaving Jonathon next to Collin's body.

Rose slipped her hand into the Doctor's and received a reassuring squeeze in return. Two men dead, the creature's devastating power revealed, and no way back to the TARDIS. She wondered how much worse things could get for them and the North Star Merchants crew.


	6. Chapter 5

**Explanations to be had and a plan to be formed. At last the Doctor might be getting somewhere.**

They were silent for only a few moments before one of the other crew members, a woman with pitch-black hair and narrow eyes, said, "Is it…getting colder?"

Everyone glanced at each other and silently agreed that yes, the temperature did appear to be falling. Juliana said, "We had to, Mary. The systems are down. All the energy had to be diverted into the lights or we'd be sitting in the dark. We have no radio, no heat—"

"—and no defenses," Captain Ida finished. Her eyes had a hardened look in them, but it looked like the barrier was holding in her emotions rather than deflecting them. "Stan, get those motors up and running."

Silence met her words. Rose looked with the rest of the group, waiting for a man named Stan to make himself known. A beat passed and the Captain repeated, "Stan?"

"Captain!" It was Juliana's warning shout that answered the Captain's call. The Doctor raced off to follow the voice, which took him under the dome's second "floor". When Rose and the rest of the crew caught up with him they found the Doctor standing next to Juliana and a man on the floor. The-man-named-Stan looked to have been a nice bloke; his grey hair and beard gave his wrinkles a wizard-like quality, and made the rest of his thick frame look well-cultivated instead of obtuse. But here he was, twitching his foot for the last time and slipping out of Rose's life before she could even meet him.

Rose gently pulled at Juliana's elbow so they could stand close together, giving each other the support they both knew the other needed. Even after all the wonderful and horrible adventures she'd been on with the Doctor she didn't think she could ever get used to seeing a dead body. But if there was one thing Rose had learned it was that this could be the moment of contact. The creature might finally show their hand and the Doctor would be able to work his Timelord magic.

Out of Stan's mouth rose a curtain of white and blue wind, twisting around the cramped air from beneath the ceiling but making no move to escape. It formed itself into the figure of a woman, who seemed to possess a chilling sort of beauty, like that of desolate, snowcapped mountains. Now relatively calm, the woman of ice had a dismal expression on her face, and her eyes continued to watch Juliana. But then her gaze switched to Rose and the woman's form swelled with renewed vigor.

The Doctor didn't step forward, nor did he flinch back; he never needed to. His voice was enough. "Who are you?" he asked, giving the wind creature his piercing stare. The woman didn't respond, but it looked like she had just realized the Doctor was in the room. She reared slightly, putting her "back" to the steel cable box behind her. When she didn't answer, the Doctor tried again, "What do you want with these people?"

The woman began to stretch out her hands threateningly, and was just about to let out a screech when the Doctor buzzed his sonic screwdriver against a small control box on his left. Heat blasted on the creature from a small air vent on the wall, and she screamed in earnest, this time in pain. Then her form billowed around itself and escaped through a tiny hole in the side of the wall.  
"Cover that up, now!" Captain Ida's voice cut through the silence that the wind creature had left behind. Juliana quickly rushed by Stan's body (being careful not to touch it) and secured a strip of plastic tarp over the hole with string and leftover nails. While she completed her task, Zach and Jonathon gently dragged Stan out of the enclosure and went to lay him next to Collin. Three deaths today; that was more today than they'd had all week. Rose shook off her grim thoughts and focused on one thing she could always count on to cheer her up: the Doctor, and his infinite curiosity. She joined him by the control box on the dome's steel wall. The creature had positioned herself like she was protecting it; Rose wasn't the only one wondering why.

With a small grunt, the Doctor forced the small metal door open and whistled in appreciation. The inside of the control box was covered in tiny white spores. They seemed to pulse in unison, as if they were breathing at the exact same time, but the pattern was slow and inconsistent. As gently as he could manage, the Doctor stuck his finger inside the box and withdrew a clump of spores clinging to the tip of his index finger.

"Oh, you beauty!" The Doctor cooed, blowing gently on the spores as if they were his own children. Despite their cloud-like appearance, the spores' synchronized breathing increased in speed with each of the Doctor's breaths.

Rose smiled shyly. The Doctor's brief flashes of caring devotion were a sight to behold, and although rare, she savored them while they lasted. Sometimes he acted like such an excitable child, other times he was the Oncoming Storm. And there were other times when Rose wondered if the Doctor had been a father in his past life or something. He was certainly old enough. She dispelled all of the other thoughts that came up in that line of thinking and instead asked the obvious. "Doctor, what is that?"

He flicked his eyes into hers and smiled that coy, broad smile of his. "It's an egg!" he replied. He looked back to the spores and blew on them again, making them quiver in excitement. "So small and defenseless in a universe so big."

Captain Ida had seen what they were up to, and she was not having two people in her care getting distracted. "Are they dangerous?" she demanded, sliding as close as she dared. She was not afraid to admit that the white dust specks made her wary.

"No, and they probably never will be," The Doctor said sadly. His exuberant grin had faded with the arrival of the Captain. Ever so carefully he slid the spores back into the control box and latched the metal door shut. Only then did he turn around and elaborate. "They're eggs, and they require below freezing temperatures in order to fully grow and hatch. Like the rest of their species they live off the wind, which naturally stirs their proteins and balances out their electrical charge. This electrical charge is what gives them the ability to practically transport themselves through radio waves. But the creatures knew that intense blizzards blow the eggs to pieces. Naturally you can see why outside control boxes would be the perfect solution: all the cold you need and nothing but indirect wind for the eggs." His gaze fell. "With you clearing out all the boxes the creatures have gotten desperate. One of them tried to lay her eggs in here, probably thinking she could keep them cool with her own essence. But it's too warm in here for them to mature, let alone hatch; they'll never survive. 'Specially without their mother."

Rose looked down at Juliana, who was finishing up the last touches on her makeshift repair. She said, "You mean that woman was their mother?"

"Yep." The Doctor popped the "p", but there would be no smile coming to his lips any time soon. Now Rose knew why the Doctor was so upset with the situation; these creatures were trying to lay their eggs, while the humans did what they always seemed to do best: destroy. She had seen it in person when the Doctor had (accidently or otherwise) shown her the darker side of humanity in their adventures. Every once and a while, they would come to a place and time where the human race was most certainly not the 4th Great and Bountiful Human Empire.

Before the Captain could interrupt again, the Doctor leaned against the steel wall of the dome. Although, sagged would have been a better word for it; was one part of his brain busy counting all of the times he's had to go through bitter situations like this? He turned to Rose even as he addressed the whole group and said, "Just a mother doing her sworn duty: protecting the young at all cost. She only fled because she knew this generation wouldn't survive 'til hatching season. That's all the Walshas are: ethereal beings made of ice and wind that live only to care and nurture their children. They're generally peaceful creatures that feed on wind, but then different species come and build grand structures like a spaceship or a dome-shaped base. And that changes everything. This base has so many little niches where they can hide their eggs before they hatch. Even your ship has, or had, so many curves and lines that they could have feasted on the new wind shapes it made for centuries. But when living, breathing creatures like you humans or the Dydiken show up, oh, they just can't help themselves. You're all so hollow and empty: lungs, bones, blood vessels…even your mind is open and ready for the taking. The Walshas have no brains or thought-patterns, not even a conscience. To experience a mind like yours, so many thoughts and connections, so many words left unsaid, even for a moment…they'd kill for that."

Zach, Jonathon, and the rest of the crew had finished each of their tasks and now stood in a semi-circle around the Doctor, stunned into silence. Even Zachary Burman couldn't completely brush off the Doctor's explanation as fantasy. In light of everything that had happened to his crew members in the past weeks, everything the Doctor had said made sense. But that didn't mean Zach would start trusting him completely and utterly. If anything it made him wonder all the more how this random space traveler would know so much about a species he seemed to have just encountered.

Captain Ida spoke up. "But you said they're peaceful creatures, these…"

"Walshas," Rose supplied, glad that it was a name she could manage (unlike some of the other names the Doctor had come up with).

"Right. Why are they attacking us? We're no threat to them."

The Doctor unconsciously shifted from one foot to the other. Here's where things started getting tricky. "You're an intruder in their eyes, just like the Dydiken were. This is their planet. Icra, it's called, the "Ice Comet". Didn't recognize it at first because the last time I came to this planet the surface was covered in glaciers. Obviously those same glaciers have been worn down by the wind so much it now resembles an ice desert. And of course, the Walshas have always played a part in shaping this planet geographically. The Dydiken left for their own survival, but you're not leaving like the Walshas want you to.

"But we can't leave," Zach growled, "We can't even get off this planet, now that they've destroyed our ship. We're trapped!"

"Try telling the Walshas that, because they have no concept of forward thinking. And according to what they've seen recently you're on a war path. Shutting them out, killing their young, assaulting one of their own—"

"Hey, now, that was you!"

The Doctor raised his hands apologetically in the face of Zach's accusing finger and said, "Well, yeah, but since she technically struck first, and I didn't kill her, they might be able to overlook that. Just don't do it again." Zach was clearly not satisfied with this answer, but he stalked off instead of pressing the point, determined that if this man wanted to play heroic scientist then he could leave Zach out of it. Captain Ida followed her second in command back into the center of the dome, and the rest of the crew followed. The Doctor gave Rose a terse nod, and they joined the rest of the crew.

Carefully sidestepping the bodies of the recently dead, the Doctor approached Captain Ida. He starts with, "Captain—"

"Yes, Doctor?" She snapped back. The Captain wished she hadn't sounded quite so rude, but she was so tired. She was supposed to be Captain Ida, master of her ship and all who walk upon, but now she wasn't even that. Why couldn't they just go home? Why did the Wallies or whatever they were called keep fighting them? Her morose thoughts were making her more depressed by the minute, and she found herself questioning whether it was within their right as humans to resist further. Instead of asking such difficult questions Captain Ida turned her dark thoughts into harsh words. "Is there something we should be doing?"

The Doctor was taken aback by her words. He was used to people distrusting him at the first meeting, but he had just shown his rather impressive and extremely extensive knowledge on the situation. By now he usually had his own private armada. "Well, Captain Ida," he began again, approaching the Captain with a little more caution than before, "I have a ship—"

She cut him off again with, "That is inside a room that happens to be filled with creatures capable of killing each and every one of us in seconds." The Doctor opens his mouth to respond to that, but she stares off into space and continues to speak like the Doctor wasn't even there. "Anyway, it doesn't matter now. Three of my crew members died today, and we'll soon follow. Whether by Welshies or hunger we will die on this frozen rock. You and your friend included."

"Captain—"

"Yes, Doctor, that's right. I _am_ the Captain. And we stay here. If we're going to die the least we can do is do it together." Captain Ida turned from the Doctor's protests and stared hard at the radio control board, as if a button existed that could solve all her problems.

The Doctor didn't know whether to show anger, empathy, or choose to ignore her completely. He had a plan now; he could get everyone out of this alive. If only she would listen choose to listen to him! He ran his hands roughly through his hair and took deep breaths, but he knew he couldn't waste time negotiating. Without an incoming source of power, the heat inside the dome would ultimately fail and his plan could never succeed. "Captain," he repeated, stepping next to her but making no move to touch her, "We could divert the heat—"

Captain Ida chuckled humorlessly and muttered, "What's the use?"

"With all due respect, Captain Ida, some of these people, your crew, aren't ready to give up just yet," The Doctor said, staring at the side of the Captain's head intently. When she made no move to answer, he took it as a sign that he could do as he pleased. There wasn't enough time to ask for permission or trust.

The Doctor took a few steps away from the Captain and turned back to the crew, who stood around the center of the dome nervously. He clapped his hands together and said, "Okay. You all want a way off this planet, and I have a ship. We just have to reach it. Now, the Walshas are fast, but what can't they handle?"

No one answered. Then, after a moment of thought, Rose exclaimed, "Heat!"

"Correct. Juliana, how much power have we got left?"

The woman looked at a meter attached to the wall. "Enough to keep the heat and lights stable for another," she hesitates, "two minutes."

The Doctor flicked his head to the side. "Not long enough. Shut off half of these lights and divert the rest of the energy into making heat for this dome. Use every last bit of energy, from every dome, corridor, and generator. We'll build up the heat in here, then keep it stable until we reach dome 1, the display dome. That's where my ship and the Walshas are. Once we've reached the dome we'll channel all that heat into dome 1 at once and make a run for it."

"But we haven't got enough power for that!" Zach protested, returning from his position against the opposite wall of the dome, "If we could clear out the generators—"

But the Doctor quickly shook his head at Zach's suggestion. "No, that is not what we're doing. Kill any more of their eggs and there'll be no stopping them. Juliana, divert the power and turn every last drop into heat energy. Rose, take those cords and follow me." He pointed to a pile of discards next to Rose's feet and she bent to gather them all in her arms. Finally she could be of some use! The Doctor continued, "Everyone else, stay on guard and keep all entrances and exits secure. Any questions?" When no one responded, he nodded and muttered, "Good." Then he turned and walked quickly to one of the machines, Rose on his heels.

Rose didn't want to bring up the topic, but she noticed that the Doctor hadn't included the Captain in any of his planning. She was glad to finally have a distinct course of action, but if people like Captain Ida weren't a part of the escape plan, could they still pull this off? They needed the crew's trust. How could two strangers earn that trust when one of them had essentially taken over the roll of Captain?


	7. Chapter 6

**Most of the crew seems open to try the Doctor's insane plan, despite some misgivings. But the actions of one crew member will turn the whole situation on its head. Warning: There is one semi-gruesome death coming up.

My goal is to get this adventure finished by the second week of June, so expect plenty of updates. Only a few more chapters to go!**

Having nothing else to do, Mary and Jonathon joined Juliana by the machine that controlled the dome's heating system. Before the crash landing, the trio was just beginning to know each other; now Juliana wondered if maybe they had gotten to know each other too much.

"Do you trust him, this 'Doctor'?" Mary asked while she absently ran her fingers through her dirty-blond hair.

Juliana glanced at the woman beside her and tried to deduce what Mary thought of the Doctor. But the other woman's face was a perfect mask; it seemed her passion for poker and bridge had paid off. "Well, yeah, I guess," Juliana answered, crossing her arms, "He seems to know what's going on. And he has a plan."

"Yeah, but don't you think that he knows more than he lets on? What if he's with them or something?"

"Seriously?" Juliana raised an eyebrow. "He's a space traveler, Mary, he's probably required to know more than he lets on. And what other choice do we have? He's offered us a way out of this mess, and we can help him make it work. It's more of a plan than the Captain's got, anyway."

Mary rolled her eyes and winced as she hit a hidden tangle. "But what if Zach's right?" she said, "What if this is all the Doctor's doing? What if he's just planning to hand us over to the enemy?"

"He wouldn't. You've seen him; he wants to get off this planet just as much as we do. He seems very protective of that blond woman."

"Yeah, well, you would say that," Mary scoffed. She turned to Jonathon, who had been listening to the exchange in silence. "What about you, Jon? You know your dad best, d'ya think he's on to something?"

Jonathon breathed in heavily before replying. He said, "My dad's just scared, and rightly so. We saw the Doctor's so-called ship in the control room, and it was literally a blue police box from Earth. No special gadgets, no guns, no jets, no fancy extensions, nothing."

Mary turned to Juliana triumphantly. "See?" she sneered, "He's not gonna to save us."

"But," Jonathon said, holding up a calm hand, "if the only other option is certain death by ice demon, well, I think I'll take my chances with a blue box and a physician."

Mary opened her mouth to respond with some biting remark, but then she closed it as she considered his words. Juliana thought about Jonathon's views as well, and had to agree with them. They might doubt his loyalties and the size of his ship, but the Doctor was truly their only hope. The trio lapsed into silence as they listened to the steady hum of the machines.

Rose bit back a small gasp as she suffered through yet another cut on the edge of her thumb. The Doctor had instructed her to untangle wires, but these wires were so old they had stray bits that poked through the length of it like needles. _Like thorns on a rose_, she mused as she carefully sucked the wound. It wasn't particularly deep, but like any obnoxious paper cut it _hurt_. Rose's mind had been wandering for a while now, and it always returned to the memory of Jackie's voice, screaming in pain.

She glanced at the Doctor to make sure he hadn't noticed her distracted state, but he was oblivious as usual. The Doctor had removed several panels from the side of the dome and had pulled out nearly every wire. He had unplugged most of them, and now sat among the swarm of wires with his sonic screwdriver clamped in his mouth. He soniced some wires, plugged others into the machine, and discarded any he deemed unworthy. Every so often he would stick his hand out and Rose would supply him with another wire, but other than that the Doctor acknowledged Rose very little. She wasn't offended; this isolation was a common mood for the Doctor, especially while he was tinkering. But Rose was not a Time Lord with an unsurpassed desire for solitude, and she suddenly felt the need to talk to someone, anyone. At least to get her mind off her mum's dying voice. "Think it'll work?" she said, picking up a thick wire covered in plastic and beginning to strip it bare.

The Doctor took his sonic screwdriver out of his mouth and used it to fuse two wires together. "Don't see why not," he replied nonchalantly, still focused on the task at hand.

Rose chuckled slightly. "Why does this happen to us? We fly around, get into trouble, nearly die…" She frowned as another thought occurred to her. "I could get eaten by some giant space worm and my mum would never know."

The Doctor stopped fusing a third wire into the mix and glanced up at her. "You want to go back?" Though his words were casual, Rose could see his expression was not. He looked apprehensive, as if he dreaded what the answer might be.

"No, no, it's just…" She looked back down at what her hands had been doing. "Hearing her voice again…" Rose glanced up just in time to see the Doctor look away, an unspoken apology passing from him to her. He was probably blaming himself for everything that had happened, like it was his fault that her ear drums had been assaulted in such a way. Rose flicked her hair out of her eyes wondered if maybe…she asked the question before she could stop herself. "Who did you hear in the Walshas' screams?"

She regretted asking as soon as the words were out of her mouth. The Doctor's expression was like a slammed door, shutting out every emotion that might have shown through. But unlike previous instances, he did not try to sidestep the question by half-answering it or changing the topic. The Doctor set his work back on his lap and stared at the wall next to Rose. Finally, he answered. "Screaming. Suffering. Dying. I could hear old friends from long ago, crying out to me. My people, burning alive as Gallifrey was destroyed. And I heard—" He stopped himself abruptly, like he had been on the verge of divulging an incriminating secret.

Maybe Rose shouldn't have pressed the issue, seeing as how she had heard enough to guess the rest. But a part of Rose dared to fantasize that maybe, just maybe, he had been about to say her name. "What, Doctor?" she said.

The Doctor looked at her carefully. He replied, "I don't even know. Some screams I didn't recognize; they were strangers I haven't met. Not yet, I think. Time streams and all that." He bent his head and resumed his work. Having finished on the wires in his lap, he plugged them in and looked through the pile for something else to use.

"Oh," is the only thing Rose can say to that. Now she regretted even asking. Hearing the voices of dying people and creatures you hadn't even met yet? How had he remained sane after all these years? _Maybe he hadn't_, a part of her mind answered. She tried to focus back on the wires in her hands, but there was one more question burning in Rose's mind. "How do the Walshas do it? The screaming?" she asked him, "Do they scan our memories or something?"

"Not exactly," The Doctor began, continuing to work through a difficult patch of wires while he answered her question, "Technically, the Walshas don't even realize that they're hurting the host; that howling sound they make is them feeding on the wind inside your body and mind. But we hear screaming women and our imaginations fill in the rest. They're not evil, just desperate. A mother's love is a powerful force indeed."

Rose gasped a little as yet another wire scraped across the inside of her index and middle finger, igniting those sensitive nerve endings with pain. The Doctor heard her this time, and he was kneeling in front of her in an instant, his expression now one of concern. "I'm fine, Doctor, really," Rose protested.

He didn't reply as he hastily switched the sonic's setting and passed the blue tip over the cut. When he removed the sonic screwdriver the wound had vanished completely. The Doctor carefully held Rose's hand in both of his, enfolding them like a protective barrier. "You have to be more careful," he murmured, glancing into Rose's eyes. There was something in those chocolate-brown eyes of his; Rose could tell it was there. Was it…?

Instead of questioning him further, Rose said, "Thank you." The Doctor nodded, and went back to his wires as quickly as ever. He grabbed two orange cables that ran along the bottom of the dome and shoved them together. Suddenly a loud hum filled the room and shook the walls of the dome. The remaining crew members looked around in alarm, but the Doctor's mouth broke into a huge grin. "Ah, there we go!" he shouts, and he jumps back to the center of the dome, Rose coming up behind him. The Doctor faced the crew and said, "Right, now, this dome is about to get as hot as a furnace, and it won't stay that way for long. We need to get to dome 1 and complete the connection, thus diverting the heat into the other dome. The heat stalls the Walshas, we get to my ship, and we're flying for home!"

"Brilliant!" Juliana said from her position by the wall.

The Doctor's grin widened even further at that, the pretty boy. "Thank you. Any questions?" Naturally, no one responded. "Good. Now grab your earmuffs. Let's move!" No one complained; the Doctor's plan was in full motion, now, and the only way to survive was to hang on and see it through to the end. Each crew member threw on their thickest coats, and everyone had their own set of earmuffs dangling around their neck. Juliana carefully stepped around the three bodies still lying in the center of the room and handed Rose an extra pair of earmuffs. The crew was preparing to finally leave the planet for good, but Zach remained standing, silently fuming and casting suspicious glances at the control box where the Doctor had found the spores.

The Doctor, however, went directly to the Captain and did not notice the other man. "Captain Ida?" he asked her carefully, "Have you had a change of heart?"

The Captain turned her head towards him, but continued to look at the ground. "Are you so sure it will work?"

"No," The Doctor replied. He was not going to lie to her about something like this. "But I'm thinking that, right now, you'd be desperate enough to try anything." He holds the last pair of earmuffs out to her.

Captain Ida stares at the earmuffs, looks up to the Doctor, and finally begins to regain her resolve. She reached her hand out to receive the earmuffs.

When he saw the Captain giving in to the Doctor's insane plan, Zachary Burman finally lost it. No one was left to back up his distrust for this man. Zach's face twisted into an ugly sneer of malice and hefted his large gun. "I will not die with you!" he shouted, before running to the spore-infested control box.

"DON'T!" The Doctor yelled, but he was a second too late. With one blow from the butt of his gun Zach bashed in the face of the control box, exposing the Walsha eggs to the heat of the dome and killing them. Barely a second passed before the lights flickered and the crew heard the Walshas' distant screams of rage. Everyone looked around them wildly and instinctually huddled together, everyone except for Zach. He returned to the center of the room and pointed his gun at the Doctor, who was too stunned and furious to move.

Rose made to step forward and help the Doctor, but Jonathon pressed a hand to her chest. His father was unstable; if anyone tried to step forward he would most likely shoot first and demand explanations later. But Jonathon couldn't stop staring at his father with confusion and fear. Everything he had known, or thought he had known, about Zachary Burman was stripped away; the man was now a stranger to his son.

Zach's mouth was set in a hard line. He removed the safety and growled, "A life for a life."

"Stop this!" Captain Ida snapped, stepping towards Zach in an effort to draw his attention away from the Doctor. This man, whoever he was, was making an effort to save her crew, and she was now determined to give her crew the best chance for survival, even if she couldn't guarantee the same for herself. When Zach showed signs of hesitating, she stepped forward again, as if she was going to try to disarm him. But Zach repositioned his gun and fired anyway, blowing a hole through the Captain's throat. A perfect shot, made from point-blank range. If Captain Ida had let Zachary Burman shoot the Doctor, the Time Lord would have been forced to regenerate. The force of the short-range shot launched the Captain's body backwards against the radio control box. Blood splattered onto the Doctor and the floor below Captain Ida turned crimson as the hollow screams of the Walshas surrounded the walls of the dome.


	8. Chapter 7

**If you couldn't tell by the end of the last chapter, some blood and gore appears. I'm not going to change the rating too much, since it only lasts for a paragraph or two.

This chapter will be on the short side, in preparation for a bigger update later this week.**

Everything happened very quickly after Zachary Burman fired what had become a fatal shot. Juliana screamed as Captain Ida was blasted backwards, her blood splattering over the metal machines and the Doctor's suit. Zach didn't even react to the Captain's death; his mouth remained set in a twisted scowl, but if anyone were to stare in his eyes they would see a small glimmer of humanity flicker and disappear. He hadn't meant to kill Captain Ida, but now he had, and a small part of him was glad he pulled the trigger. Did that make him a cold-blooded killer, even if he had had the crew's best interests at heart? Zach wasn't sure, but with the way the rest of the North Star Merchants were reacting, he didn't think he'd have time to explain. He could feel his son's eyes boring into his skull, and Zach felt more like a stranger to Jonathon than ever before.

With Jonathon distracted by his father's actions, Rose was able to slip past and make her way over to the Captain's fallen body. There was so much blood…months of traveling with the Doctor and she didn't think she could ever get used to the sight. It was strange how rare Rose witnessed gory deaths like this one, but here Captain Ida was, twitching in pain as her red blood bubbled and squirted out of the hole in her throat. She was choking on her own blood; in a way, it was ironic. By the time Rose was able to crouch beside the woman and grasp her hand, the Captain had coughed a final time and had fallen silent, dead at last. Rose swallowed down the bile in her throat and delicately closed Captain Ida's eyes, giving her that small amount of respect that could never come from the end of a gun.

The Doctor, on the other hand, did nothing but stand above Rose and the Captain, splattered with scarlet blood and shaking in anger. He hadn't been this angry in years…before the Time War, at least. The Doctor stared at Zach, nostrils flaring and eyes that contained a rising storm. Zach looked into the eyes of the Doctor, and he saw himself. He could see through those black eyes and watch himself dying, slowly and painfully, at the hands of this man. Suddenly Zach was convinced that this man was capable of uncontrollable anger, and rage, and had killed before and very well could kill again. It terrified him. Zach's hand shook, this time in fear, and he began to lower his gun, inadvertently pointing it at Rose.

The Doctor tensed and opened his mouth, intent on giving this human a full list of warnings and curses (like, "Leave Rose alone or I swear I'll throw you into a black hole the size of the Medusa Cascade.", "That was your Captain and your friend you just killed!", or "You _stupid ape_, do you realize what you've done?!"). But before he could speak an air vent above Zach blasted open. Walshas poured out of the opening, screaming in unison, and they sucked themselves down Zach's throat. In a matter of seconds the wind creatures had silenced his heart and lungs, and Zachary Burman collapsed onto the metal floor, dead.

At first, it seemed like the Walshas were satisfied with getting rid of the killer of their eggs. But then it became apparent that the creatures were taking the whole "life for a life" thing seriously, and they were factoring the rest of the human crew into the equation. As the Walshas began to regroup at the top of the dome, the Doctor shouted, "Run!"

The heat of the dome made the wind creatures hesitate in their steady advance, giving the crew enough time to grab their earmuffs and sprint for the door leading to dome 1. Rose slipped on the slippery metal floor as she tried to rise from her crouch next to the Captain's body, but the Doctor was able to catch her around her waist before she could fall into the pool of blood. She whispered a quick "thanks" and followed the remaining members of the North Star Merchants, earmuffs in hand.

The Doctor was right on Rose's heals, but he stopped in front of the door leading out of the dome. He turned, and Rose watched in apprehension as he addressed the Walshas outright. "I speak to the Walshas, the rightful occupants of this planet," the Doctor says, commanding the attention of everyone in the vicinity as usual. Surprisingly, the Walshas settled in the middle of the dome, gently gliding around the deceased members of the crew; they were prepared to listen to what the Doctor had to say.

"In accordance with the Shadow Proclamation I beg audience with the leader of the Walshas, to take place in the display dome immediately," he continued, "You have every right to control this planet—"

"_Not you!_" A voice boomed. It took Rose a second to realize that the voice was coming from the mass of wind creatures, speaking with individual voices in perfect synchrony.

Rose couldn't see the Doctor's face, but he appeared to be taken aback with the Walshas' response. "Sorry?" he responded politely, like he was asking a friend to repeat a statement while they were sipping tea.

The Walshas rose up again, like a serpent about to strike. They screamed, "_Her!_"

Rose was sure she had heard the creatures incorrectly; who could they possibly be referring to? Captain Ida? Because if the only being the creatures would negotiate with was the Captain then Rose didn't see how they would make it off this planet alive.

Now the Walshas looked like they were beginning to advance again, and the Doctor seemed to decide that negotiations with the Walshas would have to wait until later. He quickly heaved the door and slammed it shut, locking it with his sonic screwdriver. Rose and the three remaining crew members stood in a semi-circle around him, tensed as they waited for the door to blast open from the force of the Walshas on the other side. But the door only shook for a few moments before it stilled, and the sound of the howling wind faded away.

The Doctor gingerly put his hand on the door. "They should have blasted right though this. It's only a metal door with a bolt lock, it wouldn't have been able to hold them for long," he mused. Rose heard him sniff. "Guess they're going to take me up on my offer."

Before Rose could ask him about the Walshas' words the Doctor turned and strode purposefully towards the other end of the corridor. "Don't want to keep them waiting!" he shouted over his shoulder.

Oh, there was no way he would leave her in the dark on this one. Rose followed the Doctor's long strides, and behind her, she heard the stunned crew do the same.

When they finally reached the end of the metal hallway, the Doctor placed his sonic screwdriver on the edge of a metal box next to the door. Though reluctant to do so, Rose bit the inside of her cheek and let him do his sonicing. There was nothing to be gained with her nagging him.

Behind her, the three young crew members were beginning to come out of shock. "Oh my God." Something hit the metal wall, and Rose turned to see Jonathon leaning his back heavily on the cool surface. His face was ashen and his lips were slightly bloody, like he'd been biting them to keep tears at bay. He repeated, "Oh my God!"

Mary walked quickly to him and put her arm over his shoulders, speaking softly. "Jon…" she was saying, stroking his opposite shoulder absently.

Rose turned back to the Doctor, attempting (and failing) to ignore the obvious connection between Mary and Jonathon. The Doctor rarely broke down in front of her like Jon was doing in front of Mary…would Rose and the Doctor ever reach that point in a relationship when that was acceptable? When they could touch each other in places other than a handhold or a hug and still have it be okay? Would they ever? She flicked a stray hair out of her eyes and tried to focus on the here and now, but it was difficult. The Doctor had put on his glasses; the ones that made him look not only clever but downright sexy as well. "So," Rose said to him as he wrenched off the door to the control box. She tried (she really did try) not to stare too long at the curves that were only amplified by the Doctor's tight suit. "What's the plan, Doctor?"

Sparks burst from the device as the Time Lord yanked two thick cables from their sockets. "We have our audience with the Walshas, or, at least, it looks like we do," he said, sonicing the ends of the two cables, "Seems like it's not me they want to talk to."

"Who, then? Who's this 'her' they mentioned?"

The Doctor glanced up at her as he inserted the two chords back in their original locations. In seconds Rose could hear nearby air vents filling up with energy. He simply said, "Guess we'll find out", before shoving the box back in its original position.

He turned toward the group, pulled his glasses off, and took a deep breath as he returned the specs to his coat pocket. "Plan's simple: We're not here to stay, we're just passing through. Stick to that, got it? With luck, they'll have a sliver of mercy."

"Mercy?" Jonathon scoffed. His eyes were riveted on the Doctor, but his words caught in his throat, and his eyes were still rimmed with tears. "They killed my father!"

"He killed their eggs! And Captain Ida!" Juliana said. Her right hand had found a certain spot on her left wrist and was rubbing it anxiously.

Despite her logical words, Mary glared at Juliana like she had stated blasphemy. She snapped, "How can you defend those demons, knowing what they did to Travis and Collin? Those things killed your brother!"

"Enough!" The Doctor interrupted, "We can't fight these creatures so don't try to; we're going for diplomacy. Got that?" He glanced at every crew member in turn, checking to make sure they understood this relatively simple order. "We go in, talk nicely, and fly away in my ship—that blue box in there."

But Jonathon wasn't finished yet. "But I've seen your…your _tetris_ or whatever you call it. It's just a box. How the hell are we all supposed to fit inside?"

"Trust me, you'll fit." Rose could tell the Doctor was growing in patient with the crew. She wondered if he was rethinking his decision on saving these people. "Unless you feel like heading out there instead of me and making sure it's safe for travel?"

Jonathon tried to hold the Doctor's gaze, but in the end, it was Jon who hung his head. The Doctor looked again at the last three surviving crew members of the North Star Merchants. When no one tried to contradict him again, he nodded and said, "Alright. Good. Earmuffs on."

He turned to Rose, and, seeing her, couldn't keep his mouth from spilling into a grin. These icy demons were dangerous, but clearly they had no idea what the Doctor and Rose were capable of. More adventure, and more running; a normal day for them. "Shall we?" he teased.

Rose smiled, because he was smiling, and when the Doctor smiled it was like all the universe's problems just…disappeared. But there was still the twist in her stomach that she recognized as apprehension, with more than a little fear. Even as the rest of the crew, and the Doctor, put on their thick, industrial-sized earmuffs, she couldn't shake the feeling that something in that room was about to go horribly wrong. She pulled on her own earmuffs with shaking hands, and watched as the Doctor raised the sonic to unlock the sealed door.

Rose was unaware that the pair Juliana had given her was an older, more second-hand model. She had no idea that the earmuffs she wore had two small holes on the right side, directly next to her ear.


	9. Chapter 8

**It's time. The final confrontation between the Doctor and the Walshas has arrived. But will the Doctor and his friends be able to escape from planet Icra unscathed?**

The metal door slid open, and Rose and the crew were greeted with a hell gone horribly wrong. The hole on the side of dome 1 had widened considerably, allowing an endless cascade of icy wind to surge through the gap. Frost, ice, and snow whipped around the dome in an endless dance. Rose had to squint in order to see the familiar blue light on top of the TARDIS, but it was like trying to look through thick fog; the more she stared at the dim light, the more muddled and indistinct it seemed to become.

The door behind them closed with a slam, and the Doctor, Rose, and the crew were alone with the Walshas. Although she couldn't see individual shapes, Rose knew that within each breath of wind there might be hundreds of Walshas hiding. She instinctively stepped closer to the Doctor, slipping her hand in his. He responded with a quick squeeze.

"Travis…" Mary whispered. Rose glanced down and saw that the white pile she had mistaken for snow was actually a corpse, frosted over until it looked like an icy rock. She could barely recognize him; the creatures had completely wiped out his insides, freezing them and making his body shrivel like a prune. But Rose could see the man's watch, blinking in response to the Walshas as they infiltrated the radio system.

Before the Doctor could say anything, a blast of wind suddenly careened into the group. The crew were shoved up against the door and the walls, pinned there by an invisible hand. Rose felt the Doctor's grip in her hand tighten, before it too slipped away

"Doctor!" Rose shouted, turning, but the unseen barrier prevented her from stepping any closer to him.

The Doctor, and the rest of the crew, were effectively pinned against the steel wall of the dome. The crew were struggling madly and shouting to each other with panicked voices, but the Doctor didn't listen to them. He was fighting against the wind, pushing and shoving and trying to break through the Walshas' grip, but they just slammed him against the wall harder. "Rose!" the Doctor called out, and Rose saw a flash of panic creep into his eyes. He had not been expecting this. Even if the Walshas had been determined to speak to Rose and Rose alone, the Doctor had been prepared to let her take charge. She was more than capable, and was certainly braver than he was. The only condition was that he could remain by Rose's side, to offer guidance, and advice, and maybe a hand to hold. But now they were separated, and should the situation worsen the Doctor was in no position to help her.

Then the barrier between Rose and the Doctor widened, and Rose turned as she was shoved further into the dome. Hovering before her was another woman made from the wind, but this Walsha was different. She was taller and more defined than the other women of wind, and her stance was one of authority. Rose reasoned that this Walsha must be their leader.

The Walsha opened her mouth, and she spoke. Although her words were translated in such a way that they sounded female, Rose could hear an undertone of howling wind that couldn't be described as human. "Who do you think you are?" she said.

"Rose Tyler," Rose answered. Then, as an afterthought, "Human."

"No." The Walsha appeared to shake her head. "You are she, the human who walks the stars, and casts her name through the strands of Time. We can see your meddling. As our kind travels through streams and rivers of Time we hear your name. Sometimes they are linked to you, and other times they are not. But it is there."

"Leave her alone!" It was the Doctor, almost muffled by the sound of the wind as it whistled past but the voice was undeniably his.

"Silence!" The Walsha leader snapped her head in the Doctor's direction, and Rose heard a strangled cry from the Doctor. She turned and saw that a stream of Walshas had wrapped around the Doctor's throat, choking him.

"Stop it!" Rose screamed, "You'll kill him!"

The Walshas around the Doctor's throat tightened, and his cry was cut off. Rose knew about his respiratory bypass, but how long until that kicked in? And how long would that brief reprieve last? "Men are weak and unneeded in the society we have created," the leader explained, staring at the Doctor with an unwavering gaze as he struggled, "They are unnecessary in every society, yet they are proclaimed as masters of the worlds. Surely you have seen this."

"Yeah, I've seen my share of bad men." Jimmy Stone came to her mind… "And yeah, maybe they are a bit useless. But the Doctor is a good man and you will let him go!" Rose took a deep breath. "You've traveled through time and space, right? This is the Doctor, last of the Time Lords. Look him up."

The Walsha seemed to think over Rose's words, and then, finally, the Walshas around the Doctor's throat withdrew. He sucked in a much needed breath of air and leaned heavily against the wall, but thankfully, he kept his gob shut. Rose had been acting on impulse when she had spoken; she doubted she would be able to come up with another acceptable excuse.

Rose bit her lip and glanced at the surrounding Walshas, who circled Rose and the Walsha leader but kept a respectable distance away. The leader turned to Rose. "What is your intent?"

This was it. The Doctor had done this kind of diplomacy so many times before; now it was Rose's turn. Rose turned briefly to her companions and willed herself to remember the Doctor's bravery and his way with words. She met the Doctor's gaze for a split second, then turned back to the Walsha leader. "We," she said, haltingly, "mean you no harm."

The Walsha didn't reply. Rose took this as a good sign and kept going, "If you let us reach our ship, then we'll leave you alone. No fuss, and the planet's yours."

A pause, and then the leader said, "Your kind has killed many."

"Yeah, well, you've killed quite a few yourself."

The Walsha leader laughed, and Rose bit the inside of her cheek. _You stupid ape_, she thought, _a lip will get you nowhere!_ "You are brave," the Walsha said, tilting her head slightly, "A lone wolf howling at the full moon."

Rose flexed her fingers involuntarily. More wolves? She thought she and the Doctor had solved that situation ages ago. The Walsha leader paused, as if in thought, and then she turned away. "Enough. This meeting is terminated."

"Hey, wait a moment!" Rose tried to step forward but the wind barrier held her back. "Will you let us leave?"

"Leave?" The leader turned back around and laughed. Her laugh sounded like icicles grating against one another. "Bad, bad wolf. You humans have such intricate minds."

Behind Rose, the Doctor had regained his breath and caught the meaning behind the Walsha's words. He carefully pulled out his sonic screwdriver.

"Your kind is not ready for us, any of us. But we can help you. You, too, can become a Walsha, and travel across Time without the need for ships and men." The Walsha leader stretched her "arm" of ice wind towards Rose. "Relax. Let your troubles go. We will take them away from you…"

Rose backed away from the outstretched arm, but it was a mistake. The Walsha leader screamed, and suddenly dozens of Walshas surrounded Rose. They wrapped around her head, trying to break through the earmuffs, but then one of them found the holes on the right side of the earmuffs and they streamed into her ear. Rose could hear her mother dying, or maybe that was her own screams. It hurt so much; it felt like something sharp was being shoved into her brain and then inflating like a balloon. The leader joined them, flying into Rose's mouth and scraping down the back of her throat as it entered the rest of her body. Her vision went white…there was a voice, somewhere, that was different than the others…Rose couldn't speak…she couldn't breathe…

"Move!" As soon as he heard the Walsha scream, the Doctor shouted his order and managed to jump away from the wall enough that he could aim his sonic screwdriver at the wall section next to the door. He knew the control box would be directly on the other side. When the box activated, every bit of heat the Doctor had stored in the generators flew out of air vents in a steady stream, blasting the inside of the dome with heat. The Walshas reacted instantly, screaming in pain and then flying out of the hole before they burned. Even the wind creatures who had invaded Rose's mind streamed out the side of the earmuffs to flee the heat. Rose, weakened by the Walshas, crumpled to the floor.

Now free of the Walshas' grip, the Doctor yelled to the crew, "Quick! Into the TARDIS!" Jonathon squinted at the Doctor, trying to decide if "tardis" was some kind of secret code. But in the end, he brushed his ponderings aside and yanked Mary by the arm. While they sprinted to the blue police box, Juliana approached Rose. "I've got her, go!" the Doctor told her, and he rushed to his fallen companion. She was shaking violently, shivering as her internal heat continued to drop several degrees; the Walsha leader was still inside her system. The Doctor gently lifted Rose off the icy floor in a fireman's carry (his right hand holding her legs at the knees, his left hand on her upper back, and her head against his left shoulder) and walked quickly to the TARDIS. Juliana stood there holding the door open, and the Doctor made it through just as the heat system ran out of usable energy.

Inside the TARDIS, Jonathon and Mary stood in the center of the metal walkway, still hand in hand. They stared around them, openmouthed, and didn't even turn when Juliana slammed the door shut behind the Doctor.

"It's…it's bigger on the inside," Jonathon said. Mary could only nod.

The Doctor didn't bother to apologize to the pair as he rushed past them, nearly knocking them over. "That's nice," he muttered. The TARDIS did not seem affected by the Walshas just beyond her doors, and the mental nudge she gave the Doctor was one of reassurance. The Doctor, usually so responsive to his ship's feelings, just grunted and concentrated instead on lying Rose's body down on the console bench. With practiced ease, the Doctor pulled two levers and sent the TARDIS into the time vortex. They were safe.

At least, most of them were. The Doctor turned to Rose and put his hand on her forehead. She was still shaking, and her breaths were too fast and shallow, but the Doctor breathed a sigh of relief that the heat from the inside of the TARDIS had prevented the Walsha inside of her from killing her immediately.

"Rose…" The Doctor said quietly, but she didn't respond. _Rose, come back_, he wanted to scream. _Rose, I need you. I need to hear you laugh, because I can't handle not seeing you smile. Rose, you are the reason I am who I am and I need you to ground me to this world. Please, Rose, wake up._

Juliana was at his elbow in moments. "What can I do to help?" she asked him.

The Doctor's first instinct was to push her away, to protect Rose from anything and anyone that might harm her. But that wasn't entirely fair, because he was the Doctor, the man who had taken her to Icra and many other planets like it. He was the one who could hurt her most of all. And Juliana was just trying to help Rose, the woman who, in a matter of hours, had become her friend. The Doctor finally nodded tersely, saying, "Here, sit her up."

While Juliana tried to raise Rose to a sitting position, the Doctor went to the other side of the console. He ignored Jonathon and Mary, who were staring at Rose with apprehension, and wrenched the iron grating from the walkway. Underneath was his wooden trunk, which he pulled out and rifled through until he found an empty glass jar.

The Doctor set the jar next to Rose on the seat and kneeled in front of her. Rose's eyes were squeezed shut, her breath coming out in sporadic gasps and her head twitching slightly. "I'm sorry, I really am, sorry," he muttered, knowing that he was apologizing for much more than what he was about to do. The Doctor placed his fingers on the side of her temple, breathed in, and closed his eyes.

For a moment, all was still as the Doctor searched through the inner reaches of Rose's mind for the Walsha's presence. He restricted himself to the straight and narrow mental path, refusing to even approach Rose's memories. His companion was not in any position, mental or physical, to hide memories or feelings she didn't want him to see. Even entering her mind felt forbidden; the Time Lords had considered such intrusions to be only fitting for close friends and bond mates. The Doctor had no right to be here, especially since he hadn't asked for her permission.

There! A small fraction of her mind was a sheet of white, cold and unyielding like the ice that possessed it. With only a few mental pokes in the right places, the Walsha relinquished its hold of Rose's mind. The Doctor removed his hands from his companion's temples only when he was confident that the Walsha was dealt with.

He regained awareness of the present when Rose started coughing and hacking, like she was choking on something. "Rose!" Juliana gasped. She jumped behind Rose, wrapped her arms around her friend's waist, and began to pump her fists into Rose's stomach. After only a few reps, Rose spat out a small white object, which bounced off the console and onto the grating. The Doctor wasted no time in picking up the object with his hand, putting it into the jar, and screwing the lid tight. The object looked like an ice shard, but the small tentacles of wind coming out of it betrayed the Walsha that hid inside. The Doctor breathed a sigh of relief, and then packed it into his trunk. Only when the trunk was back under the TARDIS grating did the Doctor address Juliana's questioning glance.

"That was the Walsha," He explained, walking back to the chair and helping Juliana lie Rose down comfortably. She was still shivering, but now that the Walsha was gone the color was returning to her cheeks. The Doctor shrugged off his coat and laid it over like a blanket. "Once they're inside their permanent host they harden into ice crystals that reach below-zero temperatures. Protects them from the body's heat." The Doctor stared at Rose's unconscious face, rememorizing every line and curve. He could have lost her today… "But as they feed off the oxygen in the lungs they kill the host. Humans can't survive with no air, and the heart can't function in that low of a body temperature." His mouth hardened into a line. "The Walshas are nothing more than parasites."

"Hurry up, those creatures are still out there!" The Doctor turned to see Jonathon approaching him. The boy's gaze kept flicking between the TARDIS mainframe, the door, Rose, and the Doctor, but when he spoke he sounded confident, if not angry.

"We're safe," The Doctor snapped. He was quite ready for this particular human to get off of his beautiful ship. "I've put us in the time vortex. The Walshas may able to travel through time, but they have almost no tracking ability. We won't be hearing from the Walshas any time soon."

"Oh." Jonathon nodded and tried to look intelligent in front of this very powerful man, but he honestly had no idea what the Doctor meant by "time vortex". He changed the topic instead. "So now what? You gonna take us home, or trap us on a chunk of rock somewhere?"

The Doctor eyed him up and down (unconsciously noting that Mary and Jonathon were still clasping hands), and said, "You know what, I think I will put you on a rock somewhere. I know just the place." Before Jonathon could reply, the Doctor turned to Juliana. He asked her, "Give me an address."

Juliana blinked in surprise, and replied, "Well, if you could take us to Greenhithe, Kent, that'd be great. It's in the United Kingdom, on Earth."

The Doctor nodded, and he turned and pulled a series of nobs and levers. While the TARDIS made its bumpy ride through the time vortex, the Doctor gripped Rose's limp hand. Not only was he making sure that she didn't slide off the console chair, but he was also reassuring himself that yes, Rose was alive, and she would okay. And if Rose was going to be alight, then the Doctor would be, too.

As soon as the TARDIS came to a stop, Jonathon wasted no time in fleeing from the crazy police box that was somehow bigger on the inside. He rushed out, his hand still clenched around Mary's, and froze just outside the TARDIS doors.

"We're back! On Earth!" Jon cried, spinning around on his heels. Juliana walked out moments after, calmer but still in awe that the Doctor's ship had been capable of making the trip so quickly. When the Doctor followed her, Jonathon rounded on him. "This is Earth, isn't it?"

The Doctor's nodded politely, and Jon let out a whoop of joy.

The TARDIS had landed in the middle of a parking lot, next to a massive building that looked like it was made entirely out of glass. It was closed for the night, but that did not diminish its impressive size or the intricate shapes of its buildings.

Mary's smile widened when she recognized where they had landed. "This is the Bluewater shopping center! I used to work at the café." She turned to Jonathon and squealed, "My house is just a few blocks away!"

They laughed together, but then they seemed to realize for the first time that they were still holding hands. Mary looked down and up in surprise, and a smile bloomed on her face. Jonathon matched her smile with his own, and they walked away, leaning on each other like new lovers.

As the pair faded out of sight, Juliana turned to the Doctor. "Will she be alright?" she asked, "Rose, I mean."

The Doctor nodded and forced himself to look at Juliana, not at the duo that bitterly reminded him of the many things he could never offer Rose. "Course she is," he said with an off-handed shrug. And she would; the Doctor planned on running a few scans to double check, but he was sure that the Walsha had been completely eradicated from Rose's system. "Will you be?"

"Yeah, I think." She flicked a piece of hair out of her eyes, but her insides weren't as confident as her appearance. "My mum's house is near here, too. I've got to, um…she'll be worried." _And she'll ask about my brother, and where he is, and when he'll be home_, she added silently, but she didn't voice her thoughts aloud. Even the idea of telling her mother the difficult news made Juliana's stomach churn. But one rock at a time, she reasoned. Juliana looked up and into the Doctor's brown eyes. "But thank you, Doctor. Thank you. You saved our lives."

The Doctor emitted a breathy laugh and ducked his head. "Not all of them," he muttered. Self-hate, again; if everything was taken away from the Doctor all that would remain would be the same self-loathing that haunted his every thought.

"No, you didn't. But maybe that's not the point." The Doctor thought on Juliana's words as he stared out into the patch of night where Jonathon and Mary had disappeared. Juliana followed his gaze and said, "Jon's too proud to thank you, especially after what happened to his father. But they're grateful, both of them. Maybe one day they'll realize that." The Doctor didn't answer, and she took it as a sign that perhaps she had overstayed her welcome. Her encouraging words probably fell on deaf ears anyway; the man beside her was smart, and he probably knew exactly what she was going to say since she started talking. Juliana took a deep breath and turned back to the Doctor. "Well, Doctor," she said, sticking out her hand, "It's time I got going as well."

The Doctor nodded and shook her hand. "Yeah. Thank you, Juliana Rookman." He grinned. "And no more of those risky mission, unless you've got back-up."

"I'll tell the boss!" Juliana replied, laughing. She turned to walk away.

A thought then appeared in the Doctor's head. "What will you tell him?" he called out to her. It wasn't very often he got to ask such questions; usually he would leave with only the assumption that he would be written about in some report somewhere. But maybe knowing his mark on history wasn't such a bad thing after all…

Juliana turned back to him and laughed as she walked backwards and answered, "I don't know! I suppose the truth will do. How does "Saved by a Magic Blue Box" sound for a news headline?"

The Doctor smiled; he should have known. He raised his hand in farewell, and soon, Juliana was gone as well.

He went back inside the TARDIS and took a deep, relieved breath for the first time in hours. Alone again, just the Doctor and his TARDIS. And Rose, of course. The Doctor walked over to Rose and put his hand against her forehead. He sighed; he had hoped she would be nearly awake by now, or at least closer to being healthy again. But she was still cold to the touch, and her shoulders shook with the uncontrollable shivering. The TARDIS wasn't the best place for this kind of healing. What Rose needed was a familiar location, with a familiar bed and familiar company and a nice cup of tea made especially for her by…

Dreading the impending visit, but knowing that it was necessary, the Doctor set the coordinates for the next destination.


End file.
